My Army Boy
by InLoveWithFairyTail
Summary: A week into her new job as a nurse, Lucy Heartfilia is assigned to take care of Natsu Dragneel, a soldier in the recent war who has come down with a severe condition of posttraumatic stress disorder. She ventures to find the cause of it, and is shocked; as the blonde continues to take care of the man, will love bloom or will Natsu's dark past keep him a prisoner forever?
1. Chapter 1: First Encounter

**I know what you're thinking...ANOTHER story, InLoveWithFairyTail?! I just can't help it! When i get an idea, I just HAVE to write it down...Ahem...so...I dope you like this story!**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Fairy Tail! **

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**Chapter One: First Encounter**

The blonde nurse knocked on the shabby house's door, trying to balance all the food she was cradling in her arms. One of the bags would slide one way, and she would lean her arms to ensure it didn't topple over, but another bag would randomly decide to tip as well. The process was exasperating, and she wished the inhabitant of the rundown place would open the door soon.

She had only worked at Magnolia Hospital for a week so far, and already, she was being assigned to a job that took place outside of the establishment. When she had met with her boss, Erza Scarlet, the scarlet-haired woman had only said that the patient's name was Natsu Dragneel, he was a soldier in the Army, he had gone through a terrible ordeal in the recent war, and had unfortunately gained posttraumatic stress disorder. What he had gained it from was kept a secret from the hospital, Miss Scarlet had explained, while she had been putting away the patient's file in a filing cabinet. There had not even been a picture of the mentioned man provided, so the blonde had not the faintest idea how he looked like.

A faint click interrupted her from her thoughts, and she stepped back suddenly as the door swung outward cautiously. A head protruded out from the doorway, and a man, or young man since he was about her age, looked up at her. Seeing her, he stood up straight, and his salmon hair – yes, salmon – swayed from the abrupt motion. He clenched on the doorknob, as if he couldn't wait to race back into the safe confines of his home

"Who…?" his words failed him, and he stopped talking altogether.

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia. You know, that nurse who's supposed to take care of you, Mr. Dragneel, sir?"

The salmon-haired male only looked at her blankly. "Oh, that was this week?"

"Uh…yes, yes it was."

"I suppose," he said faintly, swinging the door open wider, "you have to come in?"

Lucy gave a weak nod, and looked at the state of the man's clothes. He was wearing a rumpled, dirty-looking white t-shirt, equally disheveled shorts, and socks that went to the middle of his shin. He had a stubble on his chin, as if he had not bothered to shave, and his eyes were ringed with dark circles.

"Then…go in." His voice was quiet, as if he was silently wishing the blonde would just go away, but she paraded in, quickly masking her horror at the smelly and messy look of his home. Cans, bottles, and boxes were thrown everywhere, and clothes littered the floor wherever you looked. The couches were torn up, the television was small, and the curtains were heavy with dust and cobwebs. A lone spider spun its way down onto the floor of the kitchen, which could be seen from the front entrance.

"Look at this _horror_," she said disgustedly, picking up a glass bottle that probably once held milk. It was a mistake, for she was already handling too much things in her arms, and the maybe-milk bottle fell out of her grasp and clattered onto the floor. Out of the corner of the blonde's eyes, she saw Mr. Dragneel flinch.

"Please," he said in hushed tones – the blonde was already getting used to his quieted voice, "don't make such loud noises."

"Oh, yes, sorry." Posttraumatic stress disorder. Right. She could NOT forget about that.

"Um, have you ever considered…maybe…cleaning this place, Mr. Dragneel?"

"Natsu is fine," the male replied, his voice a little bit louder now, "The 'mister' part isn't needed. I'm only twenty-three, probably around the age you are."

Or exactly the age she was.

"Oh, yes right, um, like I said…uh, cleaning?"

"I don't really…get around to much of it," he answered. Or he didn't really get around to any of it. The place appeared as if a dog had thrown up the contents of its stomach in the room.

The blonde went to the kitchen, carefully avoiding random pieces of clothing, and set down her groceries on the kitchen table, which was covered with unopened mail envelopes. She picked one up. It had WATER BILL stamped upon it, and she glanced at the boy behind her, who was cautiously picking up bottles and cans so as not to make them clink or clang. Lucy tore open the envelope and brought out the letter inside. The total bill read one hundred dollars upon it, making her stare in disbelief. How could anyone's payment be so low?

"I don't really use that much water," a voice said from behind her, and she screamed; she had not expected for him to come sneaking up behind her, but she instantly acknowledged she had just made a painful mistake. Right away, she turned around, panicking; the last thing a PTSD victim needed was piercing shout to bring them back to their past terrors. Already, Natsu's face was paling and a violent trembling took over his body. He looked as if he were about to collapse, and the blonde ran to take a hold of him. The salmon-haired boy fell into her hold a little, getting more and more limp by the second. Half dragging him and half letting him walk, she took him to what she thought was his room. She kicked the door open. Despite the current situation, she stared in awe.

The room was clean, unlike the rest of the house. It smelled wonderful as well, just like hyacinths and roses in springtime. On the walls were pressed flowers, sketching of birds and nature things, and pictures of Natsu, and several other people Lucy did not know. The dresser was white, and the curtains were thin and let the sunlight stream through; the walls were creamy-white, and the moldings that ran around the room were white. The floor was made out of wooden boards that gleamed as if they had just been polished, and a four-poster bed was situated in the corner; overall, the room looked nicer than the house appeared on the outside and the inside.

"No, please, not this room," Natsu said, his voice catching a little, and the blonde looked down at him. She started when she saw his face shining with sweat, and looking as white as paper. He went even limper in her arms and she hurried off to the next bedroom.

"No," he croaked, "Shut the door."

Lucy was about to protest about his condition, but his eyes were firm, and she obliged to do what he demanded of her. She swung shut the door of that glorious room and instead opened the next one, which was shabbier, gloomier, and dimmer. Natsu nodded to indicate that she could leave him here. The blonde hauled him in and laid him gently on the bed, where he seemed to pass out immediately. Worry clutching onto her stomach, she rushed off to the kitchen, where she grabbed a cup that was miraculously clean, pried at the faucet handle, and filled the container up with tap water. She examined the faucet for a moment to make sure it had a filter; when it was confirmed that it did own such a thing, she hurried to where Natsu was. Sighing with relief at his chest heaving up and down, she put the glass of water on a nearby dresser that was cluttered with books and paper. The nurse gave him a lingering glance for a moment, before stepping out of the room and wandering down the hallway.

The first day of her assignment had not gone as well as she had hoped it would. Instead, it had turned into a disaster right from the start…

Lucy stopped in front of that sunlit room's door, curiosity seizing every particle of her body. The blonde knew it was wrong to intrude and to pry, but Lucy had been raised being told by her mother and father that she was a natural-born nosy kind of person. Her hand stretched out, gripped the handle, and pushed open the door.

* * *

_He was on the battlefield again. That was how every nightmarish dream started. Just him, that wide expanse of green field, and the injury. He was running, out of breath, and holding a gun in his arms, looking this way and that repetitively. Friends rushed past him, yelling, and shielding themselves from grenade explosions. He dodged and weaved, flinching as clumps of dirt and rock hit his face in a stinging sort of manner, before setting off at a full run again. It was early in the morning, and he felt tired – all of them did – but he could not rest now. But despite this, his droopy eyes fluttered for a moment, and he fell, his foot getting caught on a rock in the ground. His right ankle twisted painfully, and he hollered, clutching it despairingly. It was sprained, he knew, and badly at that. The salmon-haired male could already feel it swelling up in his boot. Just then, a familiar voice called out to him._

_ "Natsu, are you okay?" _

_ A white-haired girl ran up to him, carrying a first aid kit in her hands. She finally reached him, out of breath and panting. _

_ "It's okay, Natsu, I'll get this wrapped up immediately…"_

_ "How many times have I told you that it's dangerous out here?"_

_ She glared at him. "It's my job to tend to all the wounded soldiers out here, and you're one of them."_

_ Suddenly, she smiled, and leaned forward. She gave him a gentle, tender, and sweet kiss on the lips, as if she were caressing his mouth lovingly. Then…she yelped, and choked horribly. A spray of blood leapt from her chest out of nowhere. Stunned, Natsu watched as the white-haired girl collapsed onto his lap, her eyes wide open in surprise. The salmon-haired boy turned around, the noises of the explosives around him suddenly maximizing by a thousand; he wanted to clutch at his ears and drown out the loud bangs and booms, but he couldn't. Someone was aiming the barrel of a gun right at his face._

_ "I missed…" the person said, and reloaded. Natsu prepared himself for death but suddenly, the man yowled as a friend of Natsu's tackled him. It was Gray, and he tussled and fought with Natsu's would-have-been killer. The black-haired boy was pushed off as the enemy scuttled away, every bullet shot that was trained towards him missing his body completely. _

_ "Natsu! Natsu!" Gray's voice was calling him, but the salmon-haired male could only stare at the girl on his thighs. Blood was blossoming around her and on him. _

_ "No…" he said suddenly, and pressed his hands on her chest, where the blood from the wound was spilling from. "No!"_

_ The red liquid still came, and the girl's face did not move or flicker with life. Natsu gave a low, inhuman moan, and fell away from the body, his muscles seizing up as the fighting continued around him. Slowly, he pulled the girl towards him, dragging out the first-aid supplies and wrapping the bandages around her wound._

_ "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay, it's going to be okay," he said, his voice trembling and his face streaked with tears. He didn't even notice as the battle around him ceased and his teammates all crowded around him, attempting to soothe him comfortingly. Natsu just kept continuing on in his wrapping of the girl's wound._

_ "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay….because it's my job to tend to you…" the boy said before crying out in anguish and ripping away at the wrappings he had just wound around the white-haired female. In fury or sorrow, he could not tell which, but he yelled at the sky above him, tears dripping in fat rolls off his face as the storm clouds skittered across the night sky and began to release tears of their own…_

He awoke with a faint cry emitting from his lips, and looked around in confusion, half-expecting to see that white-haired beauty standing before him, complaining for him to wake up. Afterwards, he would tell her about his nightmare where she had died, and she would only laugh at his paranoia, then pull him in for a passionate kiss. Then, they would pull apart, look into each other's eyes for a moment, then finally tear away, embarrassed and blushing. But none of that was displayed to him as his eyes wrenched open completely, and he sat up groggily. His PTSD had kicked in again, he thought, and he had passed out in…that girl's arms. What was her name again? He looked around his room once more, and stared at a cup of water placed upon his dresser. It must have been that nurse who had brought it in for him. The boy grabbed it right away, and gulped it down; the water quenched his thirst, but did nothing to ease his nerves. Outside of his bedroom, it was eerily quiet, and the boy climbed out of bed to see if that nurse girl had gone back to the hospital. He gently pushed the door open and peered down the hallway. Natsu was about to make the conclusion that she had indeed gone when he saw that that _room's _door was open just a tiny crack. For a silly moment, hope flared into life as he imagined the possibility that he had just woken from a coma where he had imagined the passing of her, the PTSD, and had conjured that blonde nurse from some faint corner of his mind. The hope died down immediately. After that incident, there was no more room for hope…or happiness. So who had opened-? Natsu paused to think a moment. So, that girl hadn't really gone back to where she worked originally after all, did she?

* * *

Lucy had explored the room for a quite a while, peering at pictures and drawings. She had come to the conclusion that this room belonged to a girl because of its neatness and aroma. But she had no idea who the room possibly belonged to. Many girls' pictures appeared again and again in the photographs scattered about the bedroom, and she could not decide who was affiliated with this tiny, neat space. The blonde stopped at a picture curiously. In it was none other than…Miss Scarlet!? But why-?

The nurse's eyes were caught by something else on the dresser. She inched closer and found a square of a photo, sweet and heart-wrenching because of what it displayed. In it, Natsu was sitting on a swing, trying to look annoyed, but it was obvious he was happy. Without noticing she was thinking it, Lucy wished she would see him like that _right now. _A girl's arms were wrapped about him, and that confirmed Lucy's mystery girl mystery. The person who owned this room was a female with bright blue eyes, and short shoulder-length hair. She was very pretty as she smiled and hugged Natsu, her mouth so close to his neck. The salmon-haired boy clutched at her hands, showing that he loved her extremely. This only reminded Lucy of her very lonely, and single life. So, even a slob like Natsu had someone he cared about this deeply…

"I wonder why his girlfriend doesn't take care of him, then?"

"And that, Miss Nosy Blonde, is none of your business," a cold voice said from behind her. She whirled around to see Natsu who was glaring at her and leaning on the doorway's frame. He seemed to be trying to avoid looking at the room as much as possible, and this was accomplished by giving Lucy his iciest stare. He – with some mustered effort and courage – walked into the room, and grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled at her arm. She was pitched forward, surprised at his strength. Natsu dragged her out of the room and closed the door softly behind them. Ironically, he turned to her with the utmost fury in his eyes.

"What are you doing in that room?" he whispered, his voice drenched with anger.

"I was just…curious."

"Curious…?"

"Um, yeah…you know what? I think you could use some food."

The blonde scurried out of the hallway and into the messy living room, which was illuminated by only a single window - which she was passing by at the moment. Natsu was quick, though, and he caught her arm again. He stared at her for a moment, and opened his mouth to say something, but right at that second, something crashed through the window and soared towards them. The salmon-haired man slammed into her and brought her to the ground, where glass shards were sprinkling everywhere. The blonde shut her eyes for a moment before opening them again; she sighed in relief when she realized that she didn't have any cuts from the scattered glass shrapnel. But froze when she looked up and saw Natsu's face inches away from hers. He was right on top of her; the blonde's back was flat on the ground and his knees and hands held up his body. Lucy wanted to shriek and push him off, but she knew for a PTSD sufferer, that would not be the wise thing to do. But, the blonde thought, that crash had been moderately loud; was Natsu…okay? He wasn't pale and wasn't sweating, but his eyes had taken on a very faraway look.

"Na-"

"I'll protect you," he said quietly, staring at her intensely. "I'll protect you."

Lucy couldn't help but blush. "What do you mea-?"

"I'll protect you…Lisanna."

* * *

Natsu had become very confused. The window shattering had become the noisy din of gunshots and exploding weapons, and that nurse girl…she had transformed into…

As he sprang his arms and knees outward so that he wouldn't crush her as they fell, she suddenly became someone else. Her brown eyes turned blue, her blonde hair became white, and grew shorter. As he looked down at her, she reached out a hand and caressed his cheek (A/N: This is his imagination playing with him, so Lucy isn't really touching his cheek).

"Natsu," she said smiling.

"I'll protect you. I'll protect you."

The girl below him smiled amusingly.

"I'll protect you…Lisanna."

* * *

The blonde walked into the hospital with purpose. She turned sharp corners and ran down long hallways. At last, she found what she was looking for. The office door read ERZA SCARLET, HEAD DOCTOR. Lucy opened the door and peeked in. From behind her desk, Miss Scarlet lifted her head.

"Heartfilia-kun?"(A/N: "kun" in Japan is usually used to describe a person in the same profession who is your junior or is of lower rank than you, as well as utilized for the honorific at the end of a boy's name.) the woman asked, puzzled.

"Tell me…Miss Scarlet," Lucy said coldly, setting down her purse and things on her boss's desktop. "Tell me about Natsu's situation, please."

"I have already told you everything I know…" the head doctor began, but the blonde stopped her.

"I've seen you with that white-haired girl in pictures in a room in Natsu's house. What happened to the other person – that girl – who was living there? It seems that she's…that she's somehow connected with Natsu's behavior."

Erza clutched her leather chair's armrests for a moment, before letting them go, and sighing. The color drained out of her cheeks as she lifted her gaze to meet Lucy's.

"Very well," she complied, tenting her fingertips together, "that other person you speak of…that is Lisanna Strauss. She is Natsu's girlfriend-"

"I knew it! Then, why didn't she take care of-?"

"…who died in the war. Miss Heartfilia, Lisanna Strauss died on the battlefield while tending to Natsu's sprain. She's dead, Lucy."

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**Well, I hoped you guys liked this chapter! I wasn't so sure about the last words of the cahpter at first...so morbid, you know? Well, anyways! Please leave me a review and tell me what you think! 'Cause you know, that box below this chapter is just so pretty and beautiful, ya can't just leave it alone without typing in it, you know? **


	2. Chapter 2: Life Story

**I'm sorry that this update took so long to happen! I got caught up in my other story and I started another one...! But here it is! The second chapter of My Army Boy (MAB for short!) :D Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do own Fairy Tail!**

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**Chapter Two: Life Story**

"What?"

Lucy felt her throat tighten as the last words escaped Miss Scarlet's lips.

"Lisanna…" Erza's voice caught in her throat and she looked away, blinking back those stinging tears she had learned to suppress. "…she's no longer with us."

The blonde felt her heart constrict within her; all she could see was Natsu's intent face peering down at hers, his onyx eyes wide with fright and alertness. That intense gaze had warmed her face, until she had pushed him off gently so that he slumped to the floor, seemingly lifeless. Clutching her dress in her tightly fisted hands, she flapped her mouth open and closed like a fish out of water.

"Natsu and Lisanna were always together," Erza continued, her face hidden by her bangs. "They talked together, went to school together, played together, laughed together…the first time Lisanna spoke to him, Natsu fell for her…head over heels."

Lucy wanted to cover her ears to block out the words but Miss Scarlet's voice drawled on.

"Lisanna had taken to befriending many boys who were infatuated with her throughout grade school and junior high. But then…" the doctor closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before she spoke again, "in our last year of middle school, Natsu, Lisanna, our other friend Gray, his girl Juvia, Jellal, and I went to the park to play with fireworks on Natsu's birthday…in the summer. Soon though, that salmon-haired idiot and his childhood friend wandered off somewhere, and when we found them…they were by the river near the bridge you cross over to get to Dreyar Elite High, far from the park, and they were embracing and kissing each other full on the mouth. They became a couple after that. The rest you can say…is history."

The blonde's face felt wet, and when she reached up to see why, her hand came back moist and salty with tears.

She covered her eyes with the heels of her palms, driving them in so that when she put them down, all she could see before her were black spots.

"I never knew…"

"And you weren't supposed to know," Miss Scarlet said, her words clipped and falling short. "All you had to _know _was that Natsu Dragneel had PTSD, take care of him, and not butt in his life…"

Her words were so harsh that Lucy averted her gaze, guilt rising up within her like vomit. The head doctor sighed, settling in her seat once again, and opened a manila folder. It was the signal for Lucy to leave. As the nurse got up to go, she looked around Erza's office one more time, searching for perhaps any photograph indicating Lisanna…but there was none.

* * *

_The summer cicadas were buzzing extremely loudly in his ears, and as one flew towards him, he swatted it away with his hand. Before them, the river was sparkling in the night in hues of ocean blue and emerald green. A breeze picked up and danced around him before it died down, leaving him alone with Lisanna. _

_ "Come on, Natsu," she urged, handing a firework to him, and he took it from her._

_ "Why did we wander away all the way out here from the others playing fireworks just to play with fireworks?" he asked skeptically, and the white-haired girl grinned at him. Her smile melted his heart, and he blushed immensely, his heart pounding in his chest. _

_ "So that we could be alone, silly," she answered quietly, her voice tinkling like little delicate bells._

_ "Why do you want us to be alone?" he queried, his breath quickening, and his heartbeat loud in his ears. His palms felt sweaty as the thin little firework dangled out between his fingers, sparking and fizzing. _

_ A moment of silence. Lisanna had stopped speaking, and Natsu was about to ask his question again when she looked at him with her bright blue eyes._

_ "I love you, Natsu," she whispered._

_ It was all too much for the salmon-haired boy. Swiftly, he dropped the firework to the ground, where it continued to pop and light, but somehow remained confined to itself and managed to prevent the grass around them from catching fire. Natsu took Lisanna into a powerful hug and rammed his mouth onto hers. Right away, the warmth of her lips rippled through him like a rock landing into a pond. His heart's racing beats slowed as the girl's mouth pursed to meet his embrace; her lips seemed to be caressing his, so soft, smooth, and flawless. _

_ His arms wound around her waist, and she did not flinch from his touch, as if she had been waiting for this moment her entire life. Around them, the annoying cicada buzzes turned into a romantic kind of song for them, and the two parted gently, completely in sync._

_ "I never knew you were such a great kiss-" she stopped, her embarrassment catching up with her behavior._

_ Natsu just pushed back the hair from her face and smiled._

* * *

"Natsu!" a frantic voice pulled him away from the sick sweetness of his dreams. Cool hands stroked his hot face, and he pried open his feverish eyes to meet brown ones. The girl's face, shrouded in clouds of silky blonde, was creased in worry. Her lips were stretched down into a frown, and she stood there, shaking him vigorously.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he mumbled, pushing her hands away with some difficulty. He sat up, feeling woozy and ill, and he gladly took the glass of water the nurse was offering him. Today, she wore casual clothes, not that starch white dress she had been donning the day before. Blue jeans that flared out at the bottom and a pink fuzzy sweater conformed to her body, fitting her exactly.

"Thank goodness," she breathed, her eyebrows slackening in relief, "you were hardly breathing…I thought you were…"

Her voice caught in her throat and she quickly turned away.

"I was probably hardly breathing because…" his voice trailed off. _Because Lisanna's kiss stole my breath away. _

He didn't dare say such a thing to this girl, who was unbearably nosy.

"What happened?" he said instead, pressing the palm of his hand to his forehead. He felt considerably cooler now, after the refreshing drink the blonde had given him.

"You collapsed yesterday," she explained, reaching out her hand to figure out his temperature. He slapped it away, scowling like a little kid. He knew that he should be thanking her, but this female made him feel irritated.

"Really?"

"Yes," the nurse nodded slowly, and smiled suddenly, "I made you some soup!"

"Oh, then bring…"

A sharp picture flared before his eyes: a white-haired girl nudging his bedroom door open with her hip, carrying in a tray with a bowl of chicken soup and some medicine. His hand, hot with the influenza, waved at her meekly in thanks, and she kissed him on the cheek, ignoring his protests that she would catch his germs.

"I don't want such a thing!" he yelled, and the nurse girl flinched back at his outburst. Her brown eyes filled with hurt for a moment before she smiled.

"I guess you don't have much of an appetite after what happened. Here, I'll get you some water."

She gently took the cup from the salmon-haired boy's hands and swung open his door, tapping down the hallway to reach the kitchen. Natsu let his face fall into his outstretched fingers.

He hadn't meant to shout at her like that…it had just come. If it had been Lisanna…if it had been her, she would have gotten angry at him right away, and ran out of the room, upset enough to drive all the way to the beach to release her anguish. This girl, whatever her name was, was definitely different. But then again, she wasn't Lisanna, and Lisanna wasn't her…Natsu shouldn't stress about it too much, right?

"I'm back," the girl's voice trilled. In one hand was a glass of water, the other hand was hidden behind her back. She brought it out with a flourish, and in her hand was a round, peeled orange. Grinning toothily, she shoved the cup into Natsu's hands and presented him the citrus fruit with relish.

"My family grows some pretty delicious oranges…here, try it."

When no flashback came, the salmon-haired young man took it from her grasp and ripped away a slice from the sphere. His eyes darted from the piece to the blonde, and carefully, he set it into his mouth, where his teeth chomped on it and it gave way to sweet juice. The nurse was looking at him with apprehension.

"Well, is it good?"

Her voice was so serious that Natsu started to laugh, almost choking on the orange slice before swallowing it down and laughing some more. For a moment, the blonde looked confused, then the puzzled expression transformed into annoyance.

"What? What's so funny?"

The salmon-haired boy stopped his fits of laughter and stared up at her; she cocked her head at his action, genuinely unable to conclude why he was acting the way he was.

If she was awaiting an answer from him, she was out of luck. Natsu had no idea why he felt suddenly relieved and a little bit cheerful in her presence, but for the first time in several months, he could finally hear the sounds outside the house, and realized for the first time how stuffy his room was. This girl was different, he synthesized at last, blinking slowly as he peered into her face. Most people would have never acted irritated with him if they knew he had posttraumatic stress disorder, but here this girl was…huffing and pouting.

"What's your name?" he inquired at last, and the nurse looked dismayed.

"You mean you don't even remember?" her voice said disgustedly. Her nose wrinkled up and he felt the corner of his mouth pulling up.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying."

"Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia," she muttered, and then more clearly and enunciating her words, "Lu…cy…Heart…filia."

"So…Luce?"

It the first time he had never used a nickname for someone, and it felt good on his tongue.

"Yeah, sure…Luce." She rolled her eyes, and rummaged through her jeans' pocket for something. Finally, she brought a container of medicine out, and poured it into a spoon she had taken out shortly thereafter.

"Here," she said gruffly, shoving the spoon into his mouth, "your medicine."

As he took drank the liquid and winced at its bitter liquid, she handed him the cup of water, which he downed in one whole setting. When he finally lowered the glass from his face, Lucy was staring at him with a serious look. Immediately, Natsu's stomach dropped one thousand feet below ground; he knew where this was going.

"Natsu…" she began.

"Don't…" he interrupted, lifting himself from the bed.

She pushed him down. "Natsu, I'd like to learn more about you…and Lisanna."

That name, unspoken by him and his friends for so long, cut through him like a dagger. He felt as if a knife had just lodged itself into his heart, and try as he might, he could not grasp on the hilt strongly enough to pull it from his chest.

"I…no, you can't…I won't speak of her…" he whispered, turning away.

"But Natsu…"

"No! you don't know how much it hurts!"

"I do! I, too, experienced-!"

"I don't give a crap about your life's story!" Natsu screamed, cutting her off, and jumping up from the bed so abruptly that Luce stumbled back, almost tripping over a shirt on the floor. Her eyes opened wide with fear and shock as she leaned on the doorway, clutching onto the doorknob.

The salmon-haired boy was breathing heavily, his temper feeling feral and out of control. Angrily, he threw the glass cup onto the ground, where it shattered into sharp pieces. The blonde now had her entire weight thrust upon the doorway, her eyes bleeding out the pain of her emotions.

"Natsu, I just…"

"You just what? You thought you could _relate _to me? You thought you could comfort me with your sad little _sob story_?! I had my own _girlfriend, _the only girl I ever truly _loved, _shot before my very eyes, and you think…you think you can ease that pain!?"

"But I-!"

"If that's the case, Lucy Heartfilia…" Natsu dropped his voice to below a whisper, "you can leave and never come back."

Luce was trembling, her entire face shielded by her hair as it dropped past her shoulders in tangled golden strands.

"Okay…" she finally said, and darted out the door. In the following silence, Natsu could hear the door slam, but his PTSD didn't kick in right then. Without a sound, he went out of his room and looked through a crack in the boarded up living room window (from yesterday's accident) to make sure that that blonde nurse girl was leaving. When she had disappeared from his line of vision, he stepped back, rubbing his eyes violently, and stopped as spots appeared in his eyesight.

The salmon-haired boy wandered to the kitchen, and gasped in a strangled way when he saw what was there. On the stove was a bowling pot of soup, and on the table, cleared of his envelopes of bills was a small little cake that said WE'RE FRIENDS, RIGHT? Natsu dropped to his knees where his throat started to constrict and his body began to jerk around.

"Luce…" he coughed, holding his neck, "come back…I need you…"

Soldiers ran by him, and the bubbling soup soon became the explosions of thousands of grenades everywhere. The boy pressed his hands to his forehead to make it all stop, but it wouldn't go away, and he screamed in agony. The world went dark.

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**That is the completion of this chapter! I hope you guys all liked it! Please review and tell me what you think! And as I always say...that review box is beautiful!**

**:D !**


	3. Chapter 3: Lucy

**Here it is! Chapter 3! Thank you for everyone who reviwed! I'm really happy that a lot of people liked it! I nearly jumped up and danced when I received those two long comments! I'm weird..sorry. But don't hesitate to suggest anything to me or write long comments! I read them ALL! **

**Please enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!**

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**Chapter Three: Lucy**

It wasn't long before the blonde, completely forgetting the fact that Natsu had screamed at her in anger, turned around to take care of him. As enraged as he was, Lucy couldn't bring herself to leave him alone in his house in the pits of his despair…oh, and not to mention the fact that he had his traumatic problem. So, with a huff of defiance, she whirled around on the heel of her right foot, and marched back to his house, where she flung the door open and said, "Natsu Dragneel, who are you to say that my life story doesn't matter?"

The eerie silence that came to her as an answer immediately dampened her mood. Plodding in, she looked around, and remembered the soup she had left on the stove. Face palming herself, she trod to the kitchen, where she clenched her jaw in remembering that that salmon-haired jerk hadn't even been grateful to her offering of some food. She sniffed as she entered the kitchen…and then screamed.

Natsu was lying on the ground, unconscious. There was a bloody gash on the left side of his forehead where he had collapsed and hit the kitchen table, and his lips were barely twitching.

"Natsu!" the blonde breathed, rushing to his side, where she rolled him over onto his back. His chest was barely moving with the rise and fall of someone breathing. Deep inside her, Lucy felt a rush of guilt for leaving him alone in the house, but instinct overwhelmed her. She set him down gently on the ground and reached into her back pocket, where her cellular phone was located. As she dialed in the hospital's number, she scoured the salmon boy's house for a cloth of some sort to slow his bleeding. When she found none, she grabbed a pair of scissors, sawed away at her sweater, and sprint to the kitchen clumsily. The phone clicked as she pressed the fuzzy fabric to Natsu's head, whose lips were slowly turning blue.

"Hello? You have reached 119 (A/N: the emergency number in Japan I believe). What is your emergency?"

The person's calm voice was unbearable as Lucy said in her flustered state, "Gash…he's bleeding…please hurry!"

"Please calm down ma'am," the woman was saying soothingly. "Where are you?"

"Um…" For a wild moment, the blonde couldn't even remember the street the salmon-haired boy lived on, and stammering slightly, she burst out, "Dragon Road…"

The woman listened patiently as Lucy stumbled over Natsu's address.

"We'll be right there, ma'am. In the meanwhile, please do anything in your power to slow down the aforementioned person's bleeding."

Sighing in exasperation at the lady's obvious instruction, the blonde cut off another piece of her sweater and stuck it to the young man's head. She flung the other blood-drenched one off to the side, where the excess red liquid dripped off of it into a puddle on the floor.

It seemed to her that hours passed before the ambulance came screaming down the street and saved the boy in her arms.

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_I love you, Natsu…_

_ Lisanna's voice echoed around his head before he heard another female voice scream._

_ "Natsu!"_

_ Something warm trickled down his face as a person's cool hand grabbed his neck and wrenched him up into his or her arms. Their heavy breathing filled his ears as the groggy sleep of unconsciousness swept him away…_

* * *

He groaned, very aware of his head aching and throbbing. Natsu half-expected to see the sight of his own room swimming into his vision as his eyes fluttered open heavily. All he could see was a vast expanse of white, and he moaned as it blinded him temporarily. He shuffled as he pulled the thin blanket thrown on him more tightly, shivering at the clean, sterile air of the room he was in.

"Natsu," a stern voice was saying, and he turned to look into sharp, piercing eyes. The pupils of his eyeballs hurt from the glare this person – this female – was giving him, and he uttered another groan of misery to let them know.

"Erza," he said hoarsely, and he attempted to sit up. A wave of nausea overtook him and he decided against it. He gripped a glass of water that the scarlet-haired doctor was shoving into his hands, and took a sip from it. The fluid had a nasty, medicinal place, a suiting flavor for water from a hospital.

"Did I collapse?" he asked, his voice more or less smooth after drinking.

"More than that, you were losing about every millimeter of blood out of that head of yours," Erza replied in annoyed tones. She was never one to sympathize for him, as long as woke up from an injury, he was okay…and fit enough to be scolded.

"I hate the hospital," he said bitterly, trembling as he thought about the months he had stayed locked up in his home, not daring to step into the outside world. To think that the fresh air of outside had touched his skin sent shivers down his back.

"You used to love to explore nature," Scarlet said gently, her expression softening. "I can't believe what takes you to go outside now is a gash on your forehead from falling and hitting the corner of the kitchen table."

Natsu grimaced at the thought of the sharp edge slashing through his skin, and blanched.

"That…was before the incident."

"I hate how you refer to it as 'the incident'," another voice said, and for the first time, the salmon-haired boy noticed the muscular build of Gray Fullbuster, his other childhood friend. The black-haired young man leaned on a small round table at the foot of the hospital bed, sipping a bottle of juice.

"The incident…was Lisanna's death, can't you just say that?"

If Natsu hadn't been feeling so weak, he definitely would have gotten up and punched the guy in the face. The only reason why he never referred to the event as 'her death' was because he was afraid of being hurt more than he already was.

"Shut up, Icy," he growled, covering his face with his hands. Suddenly, he remembered something. He sat up, despite the rush of dizziness he felt from doing so. "Where's Luce?"

"Heartfilia-kun? I believe she's tending to some other patients right now…why?" Erza said, puzzled.

"Nothing really…actually, was she the one who…found me?" asked the boy, genuinely curious to find out.

"Why don't you see her blood-stained shirtfront to enlighten yourself?" the head doctor scoffed. "She was seriously worried about you, Natsu…"

"Really…" replied the boy, feigning boredom.

"I wish you would stop pushing everyone away."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone who cares about you, Natsu…"

The salmon headed young man lay back down, and from there, he drove the heels of his palms into his eyelids, clenching his jaw in pain. With his face covered, he said in quiet and cracked tones, "I try not to…but whenever someone learns about Lisanna, they try to comfort me. I don't want to be comforted. The loss of Lisanna can never be filled…words can't heal what has been killed…People pity me and think they can understand me…no one can do that, Erza…no one."

He took a deep, shaky breath, and continued, "Whenever someone is nice to me, I can't stand it…Lisanna comes to mind and I feel like I die a little more each time I remember her. I try to live on, but it feels like I've died with her. The sounds of the world block out and it's like I'm deaf, my sight blackens out, and it's like I'm blind, I can't speak as freely anymore and it's like I'm mute…I feel like I can't breathe anymore and my heart stops pumping…and I feel like I'm dead."

He stopped before saying his next words, "_Lisanna was my everything_."

It became silent after that and Natsu reveled in it, breathing hard and blinking back tears. He remembered the day of the funeral, when it had rained conveniently. The cold water had slapped down on his face as the army men had lowered Lisanna's coffin into the ground, dubbing her the bravest nurse volunteer worker in the regiment. Her siblings had been given a medal dedicated to their littlest sister, but their sorrow had not been comforted. Mirajane had wailed, dropping to her knees in the sloshing mud, her long, wavy white hair shielding her face. Her wild behavior was tame after that, never bursting into outright anger. Elfman had been broken, his emotions contorting his face, and he had learned to become tougher in order to protect his family. Natsu could feel their eyes on him as he stood listlessly in front of that grave, tears not touching his cheek and face blank. It was only after everyone had left that he had started to cry and yell in anguish, his hands pounding the ground, disregarding the mud that flew into his face and drenched the black cuffs of his suit. He tore away at the midnight black blazer, whimpering, "Lisanna never liked black, she never would want me to wear black today…"

While everyone had gathered together to say their final words about Lisanna, the boy had retreated to his parent's house, where he lay there in a sopping mess, until his father, Igneel, had come and heaved him up. There was a sharp pain in his eyes as he watched his seemingly lifeless son drown in his own sadness. Natsu had then went back to the house Lisanna and he had lived in – a shabby place that had forced them to join the military. There, he had locked himself away, driving away both his parents and friends…

"We're back!" a bubbly voice trilled and the salmon-haired boy pulled himself out of his ditch of memories to see Juvia and Jellal coming in with a stack of sweets, snacks, and beverages. Juvia handed a soda can to Gray, then one to Erza, and when she noticed that Natsu was awake, she gave him one as well.

"How are you feeling?" she queried, reaching out to touch the bandages wrapped about his forehead. The young man turned away from her contact and smiled sadly.

"I've had better days."

The light blue-haired girl gave him a look that announced _I don't believe you_, but she shut her mouth and went to situate herself beside her boyfriend. Gray and Juvia always looked happy standing next to each other like that, just as Natsu had felt before…

"That was a pretty nasty cut you had," Jellal commented gently, and forced the former solider to peer at him. The blue-haired man was always speaking carefully and wisely, his personality very thoughtful for a guy who was dating the short-tempered Erza Scarlet.

"I should think so. I hit myself on a table."

The room went deathly quiet as there was nothing left to say, and a fizz of air went off as Scarlet popped open her soda can. She drank from it contemplatively, thinking about something that gave her eyes a faraway look. The door to the room was abruptly opened, and the noise broke down the dam of silence.

In walked Sting Eucliffe, or more appropriately, Doctor Sting Eucliffe, and next to him strode his co-worker, Rogue Cheney. The blonde worker nodded to Erza who tipped her head back at him; Sting then turned his gaze down on Natsu.

"Well, well, Mr. Dragneel…seems that you can't help but fall victim to your PTSD," he drawled, picking up a clipboard hanging off the bed's railing. He brought a pen out of his white coat's pocket, and scrawled something on the sheet of paper laid out before him.

"Really, Sting?" Rogue sighed, "No one with PTSD can help but fall victim to it…that matter aside, how are you feeling Mr. Dragneel?"

"Ah, good, could I go home now?"

"Nice try," the black-haired doctor said sarcastically, and looked at him extremely seriously with his red eyes. "We've got some bad news, Natsu."

The salmon-haired boy rubbed his bandages and said in an exhalation of air, "Enlighten me."

Sting put down the clipboard, clicked his pen once, and shoved it back into his pocket. "I'm afraid that your posttraumatic stress disorder is progressively getting worse."

Natsu's fingers twitched as he paled. "What?"

"What does that mean?" Gray voiced the question with a certain note of concern and fear in his tone.

"It means that Mr. Dragneel will be more prone to flashbacks of the war…to visions of _that._"

Sting Eucliffe was surprisingly one of the few individuals who managed to never say Lisanna's name, along with Rogue.

"Soon, he won't be fit for any kind of work…or staying home alone. It'd be too risky…he could collapse and hurt himself again. When his PTSD really does amount to its climax, he'll have to spend most of his time here," Rogue continued, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Is there any way to prevent that from happening?" Juvia questioned, her hands clasped to her chest.

"Let's look at it this way." Everyone's heads turned to Erza, who had spoken so calmly and defiantly that she attracted their attention. "What is the cause of Natsu's trauma?"

"Lisanna," Gray answered, disregarding Natsu's glare.

"Correct. So if we ease his pain and suffering regarding that subject…"

"His PTSD might slowly ebb away," Jellal finished just as calmly.

For a long moment, Natsu let what had just been said to sink in. Then, he started to chuckle, then giggle, which in turn became fits of maniacal laughter. "Th-then it's impossible!"

He continued to laugh before Erza said icily, "Natsu."

The boy looked up at her with cold, unseeing eyes, "You think it'll be that easy? Have you all recovered from the fact of Lisanna's death so much that you're willing to get me to forget about her?"

Upon hearing his reckless inquiries, Erza's mask of carelessness crumbled and she screamed loudly, "_I'm not asking you to forget about her! I'm asking you keep her in your heart and move on! Lisanna didn't fall in love with someone as pitiful as you are now!"_

Natsu winced at her loud screams and she immediately quieted.

"You'll always love her Natsu…but you have to move on and love someone else…don't forget about Lisanna, remember about her, but I'm asking you – no, _begging_ you – to share those memories with someone else!"

"I can't…" he said in his raspy voice. He choked on held back tears, and peered at his friends through blurry eyes. "Whenever I try to talk about her, I feel like I'm going to die of asphyxiation. I can't discuss about her to anyone."

"Hello?" A timid, girly voice rang through the closed door, and Sting, rubbing his temples, said, "You may come in."

Lucy, with her tattered, bloody sweater, walked in, each of her hands at her sides. Natsu stared at her for a moment before turning his head away, his blood rushing to his head loudly in his ears.

"Cheney, Scarlet, we had better go," Sting announced, and nodded to the blonde, "We trust that you can handle him?"

"Um, yes," she replied, bowing to her superiors before the three of them departed.

Gray, stroking his eyelids with exhaustion, said tiredly, "We had better get back home ourselves…all right with you guys?"

Jellal pumped his head up, then down, setting off for the door the same time Gray did. Juvia followed them, nodding to the blonde once before closing the door behind her. Now all that there was left in the room was Lucy, Natsu, and the clean white, sparkling furniture. The boy prepared himself to be scolded and yelled at, but as the blonde walked over to him, all she did was pull the blanket up to his chin.

She smiled brightly at him, putting a hand on his bandaged wound. "So, Mister, you feeling better now?"

Her smile made him relax unexpectedly, but Natsu took her hand in his. "Lucy…" he began.

"Don't you dare say it," she said sternly, and the salmon-haired boy turned away as tears filled her eyes, "Don't you dare say you're sorry, Natsu Dragneel…!"

Natsu fell silent, pondering about what to say to her, then he looked into her chocolate brown eyes.

"What were you going to say back then?"

Lucy seemed puzzled for a moment before huffing a sigh of annoyance. "You mean my sob story you don't give a crap about?"

"Uh…yeah," Natsu said sheepishly, and the blonde looked as if she would like to punch him. She diverted her gaze from his and stared at a blank wall across the room.

"When I was little, my mother was murdered."

Her tone was so flat and blunt that Natsu looked at her in surprise. Lucy stared straight ahead, not looking at him.

"We were on our way to another city, traveling by train. It was luxurious! Cakes filled the snack carts, plush pillows lined the train seats, and shades could be pulled over windows…Layla Heartfilia was a beautiful lady, admired by those around her. I was seven, too naïve of the world around me. My father was rich, owner of the Heartfilia Industries, and he loved his family very much. We never expected for there to be robbers on the train.

"The seventh night we were on the locomotive, my mother left our room to go to the ladies' room. It wasn't long before we heard a long shrill shriek from the hallway. Father rushed out, and there she was, Mother…lying on the ground in her own puddle of blood. The bandits had tried to use her as a hostage and gain some money by blackmailing my father, but had accidently killed her with a gun equipped with a silencer when she screamed."

All was quiet as Natsu listened and Luce finished, her face blank.

"For a while, I was just like you: listless, seemingly lifeless, emotionless. Father brought me out my stupor, bringing me back a life that I probably would not have the energy to live had not it been for him…he passed away from an illness two years ago."

The pink-haired boy said nothing. He knew that 'sorry' was never the appropriate thing to say in these situations; the word never helped, no matter how much other people insisted it did.

_We're sorry about Lisanna._

_ I'm sorry about Strauss._

_ We give our condolences to you regarding Lisanna Strauss._

He gave a high-pitched, otherworldly moan that made Luce immediately look at him, worried about his condition.

"I love Lisanna," he said, his voice sounding strained from the hard knot in his throat. "I thought that everything was unfair when she was taken away from me…I know it's not anyone's fault…but…"

The aroma of her white hair came back…a fresh lemony scent from her shampoo that she used. She would bring in the sunshine into the shabby shack they lived in, making every day seem like spring. Her habit of pushing back her hair behind her ears came back to him, the color of her locks like silvery moonlight framing her delicate face. It all seemed so vivid that Natsu reached out to caress her face, but all he felt was Lucy's cheek. The blonde jerked back from his touch, clearly aware that he was seeing someone else. A dull ache pulled at her heart, but she pushed it away with some difficulty.

"Life will never be the same, will it?"

"No, it won't," Lucy whispered, and she reached out and took his hands in hers, "but I'm here for you Natsu. I'll bring you back into the flow of life…you'll be okay, because I'm here."

It wasn't the first time Natsu had heard those words coming out of someone's mouth after Lisanna's death…but this time, for the first time, he believed in them.

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**Thank you for reading! Please review and tell me what ya think!**

**IMPORTANT: ****For those of you who want to know when I update MAB, I really don't have a schedule for it...sometimes I'll update in a week or day, two days, or more...**

**It depends on how busy I am and what story I decide to work on...**

**I'm really sorry I can't provide you with an update date! D:**

**But please keep supporting my story! :D**


	4. Chapter 4: The Album

**Well here it is! the fourth chapter. It's really rare for me to update two chapters on the same day...but I was bored! :D**

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**NameMeLife****…I'm really sorry about being inaccurate about things…! I hope you forgive me! Oh, and don't worry about it! Criticism makes way for improvement! Oh, and about Lucy tearing off her clothes…don't forget that she searched his house for things and that Natsu spent months inside his own house without stepping outside. He's probably short on medical supplies; I didn't want to have Lucy spending minutes searching for a sterilizer or bandages because…I would definitely get comments that Natsu should have been dead or something…and that would be disastrous! ;D His house is messy and I thought that paper towels probably wouldn't do the trick. I had no idea where she would get the cloth from…and since sweaters are generally thicker and more absorbent then any paper towel, I was like, why not? LOL, funny thing you should mention that I rush. I try not to do that…but it just comes… :D This is a very long paragraph…oh, and you're right about that hospital confinement thing…but I'm guessing that since Natsu was injured badly, he would be convinced by his friends to stay, even if he really didn't want to…I think that hospitals will generally keep a person in it though if they are seriously injured. *taps chin* Oh, and I think some hospitals have therapy departments in them…sorry about this long rant, but if you have any more pieces of criticism you would like to give, go ahead! (It makes my heart sink a little at first, but since I'm generally an optimistic person, I will take your thoughts into consideration!)**

**PandaChan120:**** Thank you! I like to be told that my ideas are original! *smiles* If I could hug you, I would…I don't mean to sound scary…**

**That was a long reply section…**

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**Chapter Four: The Album**

Days later, Natsu, lying in his bed, slimy with sweat, and a little restless from staying in bed for so long, heaved a heavy sigh. He was bored…extremely bored. Before, he didn't have a problem with being alone inside his own house…but now…

"Lucy," he rasped, covering his face with his pillow, and groaning. The blonde marched in, picking up the plush cushion and throwing it to the side.

"Don't do that," she scoffed, "My goodness, Natsu, you'll suffocate yourself before you even recuperate fully."

"Bring me a glass of water," he ordered, disregarding her daily lecture about his way of living. She shook her head in disbelief and handed him a bowl filled to the brim with something blue. Peering in, the salmon-haired boy picked out a blueberry, and ate it, wincing at the sour taste. The shape and hue of the fruit brought back a memory; something small, round, and blue, but it was sweet as it melted on his tongue. A round little jawbreaker that he had rummaged around in that bag he had bought from the candy store, perfectly good and delicious. He was in fifth grade again, his knees scuffed and his shirt dirty from a day of playing football with the guys. Lisanna ran up behind him, urging him to give her some candy, but he only shrugged away from her, laughing as she pouted grumpily.

"Here, have some," Natsu offered to Lucy, who stared at him quizzically.

"Flashback?" she asked, and it took a while for him to nod. Now that the blonde had figured out at last when the young man was swept back to the past, it seemed as if it had gone steadily better as she talked to him about it. What used to be biweekly therapy visits to that boring therapist for him (A/N: thanks to NameMeLife for the therapist thing!) turned to weekly visits.

"Hey, Luce, do you like jawbreakers?"

"Not really, I've never been a fan of fruity candies. I'm more of a chocolate lover."

Natsu smiled, "Wish I could say the same…Lisanna hated chocolate, so I did too."

Luce stared at him for a moment, before sighing, her hands on her hips. She tipped back her nurse's hat, and said, "I'm going to get that glass of water, okay?"

The salmon-haired young man grinned lopsidedly, "Please do, ma'am."

When she her footsteps had faded from the hallway, Natsu reached under his bed, and felt around under it. Dust collected on his hand as he did so, but he ignored it, accepting the fact that Lucy wouldn't be happy to find his arm dirty later. Finally, he found it…it was hard, cool, and square. Quickly, he pulled it out, where it landed on a thump beside him on the mattress. A cloud of dust and debris rose up as he blew on it, coughing and wheezing. Although the maroon color of the cover was slowly fading, the man could just make out the words _Those Happy Times. _Back then, they used to be golden and glittery, but they were now just traces of shaped glue, the embroidery peeled off years ago.

Just as he was about to open it, the blonde's tap, tap, tap of her shoes appeared once again, and he quickly opened his nightstand's drawer and shoved the book inside, where it lodged itself in a crack. Natsu didn't have time to fix it as Luce opened the door, holding up a crystal glass. As she walked over to him, his heart thumped madly in his chest as he wondered if she would notice that difference in the drawer. When nothing was mentioned of it, he relaxed and drank the water.

"What's that?"

Natsu nearly choked on his water. Liquid went spraying everywhere from his mouth as Lucy bent down to his nightstand, pulling that blasted drawer open.

"It's an album!" the blonde gasped, her hand running across the front of the bound book. She fingered the frayed edges with curiosity, her head cocking to one side in complete wonderment. She looked at Natsu.

"Here, you were going to look in it, right?"

He took it from her, and fluttered his fingers over those words again before pushing the cover aside. His father's nearly faded written words served as captions for the photographs lined on the first page, which were a little blurry as the cameraman – or woman – tried to capture the little Natsu's energetic traveling around his bedroom. Luce turned to go as his breathing slowed to a peaceful rate, and his eyes devoured those captions. His question stopped her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make some food for you."

He shook his head. "I don't need it. Come here."

Lucy hesitated, before complying and approaching the edge of his bed. She stood, trying to look down to see the pictures. He smirked.

"What are you doing?"

"Um…"

"Sit down."

His voice rang with some authority, and she obliged, feeling humiliated. He flipped a page in the album, and the blonde flicked her eyes over the photographs. There was one with Natsu hugging a tiny blue cat with a young Lisanna beside him. They were both smiling, a pure emotion of happiness surrounding themselves. Underneath the photo was a caption that read in messy childlike writing "Natsu's the father and I'm the mother". At that little comment, the blonde chuckled, and when she noticed another caption - under a picture where the little feline was sitting yards away from where Natsu sat in a state of what looked like anger – that said "Natsu and Happy fight over fish", she started to laugh extremely hard. She fell onto her back on the bed, not able to stop her whooping and howls. She kicked her legs into the air, and tried hard to regain her breath as it ran out in her lungs.

When she finally stopped, Natsu was glaring at her, and he pulled her up, mumbling, "Just keep on looking, will ya?"

She suppressed a smile as she leaned in close to him, his hair tickling her cheek. Natsu flipped the page again, and this time, he was in his later years of grade school.

He had his back against a tree as Erza stood next to him, her chin lifted up in defiance; up in the very top branches was Lisanna and Gray, who both laughed at the Natsu on the ground. In turn, he looked up at them, glaring mostly at Gray, who was having such a good time with his beloved childhood friend.

A few more page flips, and Natsu entered middle school, his black school top looking very pristine on him. Lisanna stood next to him, dressed in her sailor uniform, and laughing while she clung onto his arm. They stood in front of the school entrance, people staring at them as they walked past; girls seemed to be gushing over Natsu, and boys just glared at him jealously.

The next page was filled with Natsu running in the athletic festival, running in the race, hitting a baseball over the fence, and cheering on his friends in a uniform, his sleeves rolled up to reveal his taut muscles. The salmon-haired boy then appeared to be at a cultural festival, probably a few months later, and he smiled as he stood in a stand, making takoyaki for visiting females of other schools. The sky fell into darkness, and Lisanna and the boy stood against the roaring flames of a bonfire, holding each other's hands and preparing to dance. The next images didn't show him at all, and a side note read "Natsu and Lisanna probably went off to make out somewhere".

Finally, he was at his graduation, holding his graduation scroll lazily in his hand. He smiled for the camera as Lisanna did the same, except she held out her scroll while doing a victory sign.

The next picture, Natsu looked slightly flustered, his hand making an x-sign in front of him as the person took a picture of the salmon-haired boy and his childhood friend. Lisanna herself was holding something between her thumb and pointer finger, grinning toothily as she did so. The caption read "Natsu gives Lisanna his second button". (A/N: In case you don't know about the traditional "second button" of the middle school uniform of Japan…usually, during their junior high graduation ceremony, boys will give the girls they love their second button- said to be the closest to their heart and filled with their emotions. It is considered as a confession.)

"Was this after you guys started to date?" Lucy wanted to ask him, but her voice was caught in her throat. She already knew the answer, and the boy just kept on turning pages. Summer flew by on those paper white pages with images of the friends eating popsicles, Natsu and Lisanna kissing in a picture marked "Natsu's birthday", and Erza, Jellal, Gray, Juvia, Lisanna, and Natsu smiling as they held fireworks in their hands.

Natsu stood in front of Dreyar Elite High School's gates, blushing as the white-haired girl stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. There were several festivals shown on the pages throughout his three years of secondary school, and he seemed to grow older as the pictures continued. He smiled in his sports uniform as he painted a banner for the sports event in his first year, he stuck out his tongue as he prepared the race track for his second, and splattered people with paint as he helped put up signs in his third year. As for the cultural festival, he was shown in several costumes for cosplay cafes, one depicting him as a very smartly-dressed butler in his first year. His second year was full of laughs as he posed in a maid's dress, a wig adorning his spiky salmon hair. A year later, he was dressed in a bunny costume, wearing a sign that read "Come to the third year's cafe because I'm wearing a very 'bunny' costume!"

Tears filled Lucy's eyes as the boy frozen in time hugged all of his teachers and friends as the last day needed for third years to be attending schools ended, and everyone left in nostalgic moods.

A setting sun framed Natsu and Lisanna as they kissed each other on the lips, not caring that a camera was snapping away.

Months passed by, and Natsu was in college, wearing a jersey and skinny jeans, his shoulders relaxed and trembling with chuckles. He held an award of some sort in the crook of his arm, and his hands were shoved into his pockets. Two boys Luce did not recognize were talking with him, pointing to him and talking to him with wide open mouths. In the background were several other people, indicating Lisanna who stood beside Natsu, the only one who realized a picture was being taken of them.

A few page turns later, the young man and his girlfriend stood in front of the very house Lucy was in now, giving future viewers of the photograph a thumbs-up.

At last, Natsu turned that page and found himself tracing over Lisanna's form on the last picture.

"Happy 23rd Birthday!" said a cake nearby, being cut by the white-haired girl as she got a bit of frosting on her nose. Natsu was wiping it off as Gray poured soda for all the people gathered in the room, chatting with each other merrily.

"What about your 24th birthday?" Lucy asked gently, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"She died before then."

Silence ensued until Lucy found her next words.

"You love her, don't you?"

Natsu stopped running his right index finger over Lisanna's image and looked into the blonde's eyes. They were inches away from each other, and she could feel his breath on her face.

"What?" he asked, connecting his gaze with hers.

"I said, 'You love her, don't you'?"

"Yeah," he replied, searching her eyes for something, "Yeah, I love her."

"Love?"

"Yes, love…"

His voice trailed off as he looked intently and absorbedly at her face, so close to his, yet his was far away as…

"Lisanna," he whispered, reaching out his hand and caressing Lucy's face with it. His manly fingers curved around her cheek gently, lovingly. "Lisanna…"

The blonde was too shocked to even react as the boy took hold of her chin in his thumb and index finger, and leaned in closely to her. His lips were just centimeters away from his when he choked, "Lisanna…don't die."

Instead of pressing his mouth on hers, he hugged Lucy instead, sobbing heavily.

"Lisanna," he rasped, his voice racked with cries. He buried his face into the blonde's hair, reveling in its scent.

Lucy, sighing slowly, reached out her arms and hugged him back, whispering.

"No, Natsu, I'm not Lisanna…it's me, Lucy…you're here in your home now, Natsu, I'm here Natsu, the year is 2013, you're in your house, and you have nothing to fear. Lisanna isn't here. It's only me Lucy, you, and your house."

She reached over and pushed a blueberry into his mouth. "Natsu, do you taste that? It's a blueberry. Chew it. Do you taste it? It's sour, right?"

That unfocused look in the boy's eyes disappeared and he slumped over, his whole weight pressing on Lucy's. It was not uncommon for him to pass out right after his flashbacks, and the nurse carefully lay him down on the bed. His skin was pale and beaded with sweat; calmly, Lucy got a washcloth from the kitchen and bowl of cool water. When she came back, most of the sweat had dried off, but she still dabbed him with the rag, trying to tell herself that she was completely at peace. But when Natsu blindly grabbed her hand in the midst of her wiping up his face, and said, "I'm sorry Lisanna…I didn't know you didn't want to kiss back there…don't hate me okay?"…the blonde trembled with aches and pain, but she kept that hand that dabbed him strong, firm, and still.

"Shh…Natsu…I'm not Lisanna. It's me Lucy. The year is…"

"2013…I live on Dragon Road…and my nurse's name is Lucy…I'm at home and completely safe…"

The young man dropped off to sleep as tears spilled over the girl's eyes. Somewhere in the unconscious boy's mind, he knew the hair that he had buried his face into had smelled different…not lemony but giving off the aroma of vanilla and cherry blossoms. Try as he might, Natsu could not put a finger on whose scent that really was…

* * *

**Well! I hope you guys liked this chapter! If you did (or if you didn't) (or if you are just in the middle) please leave me a review and tell what you think! Thank you in advance! **


	5. Chapter 5: Draw the Light

**I'm so sorry for the late update, you guys! But, I found out about another manga by Hiro Mashima! It was actually created before Fairy Tail, and a lot of ideas in Rave Master (that's what it's called) are used in FT. I heard that there's a crossover anime of Rave Master and Fairy Tail coming in August! I'm super excited! (There's on chapter in the crossover manga right now!)**

**Although, you're probably thinking that that's no excuse to delay on story updates, huh? Well, I'm super duper sorry!**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Draw the Light**

It was five in the morning, still way too early for Lucy to arrive with her usual batch of groceries. Still, Natsu was awake, sitting restlessly at his desk; the lamp was on, and he flipped listlessly through his album of photos, unsure of what to do besides sleep. Luce would freak if she ever found out that he was staying up late, doing nothing, and depleting his energy. But when the salmon-haired male finally found himself drifting off, his mind would somehow wander off to thinking about Lisanna…even when he tried very hard to not do so.

Finally, he felt himself lifting his right hand, and fingering out a sketchbook on his desk—installed bookshelf. With a flourish, be brought it out in front of him, his eyes heavy with dread. It had been months since he had let himself see this again…

A trembling hand swept away the front cover, and carefully drawn pictures gave way. The first one immediately depicted Lisanna, eyes wide, expression happy, and mouth turned into a little lopsided smile. A pang of déjà vu shot through Natsu as he examined the sketch he had drawn; the curve of the girl's neck, the artistic pencil strokes of her strands of hair, and the flowing lines of her lips. The heartbroken part of him wanted to grab a pencil and start scribbling and crossing out the image right there and then, but a larger of himself wouldn't let him do it.

Sighing, he turned the page, marveling at how enthusiastic he had been when he had drawn Lisanna and him together. He distinctly remembered holding a camera shot of them together while working on this one.

Another page flip. This time, Erza was in the drawing as well, her expression serious, and her mouth on the verge of scolding him for doing something incredibly idiotic again. Gray stood next to her, hands shoved in his shorts pockets, and eyes closed as his mouth opened wide for a laugh. Beside him, of course, was Juvia, her eyebrows curved downwards in a look of pure skepticism; her arms were crossed as she looked out the sides of her eyes. Solemnly, Natsu turned the page again, and immediately went red.

On this particular page, he had pasted a secret photo Erza and Juvia had taken of Lisanna and him kissing. Embarrassedly, he had snatched the picture away from them, tucked it inside his sketchbook, and had suddenly decided to draw it out the next day. Quickly, now, he practically ripped the page away from him, to hide the happiness of a life that seemed far away…just a bit.

Lisanna again. It was the day of the six friends' (Jellal, Juvia, Lisanna, Gray, Erza, and him) holiday ski trip; the white-haired girl had chosen to put on her favorite ear mufflers that time. The ear mufflers he had given her himself. Dressed in her parka, his drawing expertly depicted how puffed up she had looked.

"You look fat," he had told her, laughing and mocking pain as she hit him in the stomach.

Just turn the page, he told himself, it'll hurt less. Lisanna. Flip. Lisanna at the beach. Flip. Lisanna smiling. Flip. Lisanna angry. Flip. Lisanna crying. Flip. Lisanna sad. Flip. Lisanna laughing. Flip. Lisanna, Lisanna, Lisanna, Lisanna.

Looking back on it now, Natsu had probably been obsessed with his beautiful girlfriend. Looking back on it now, he was probably some kind of crazy stalker. Looking back on it now, it really hurt.

Flip. Lisanna…bloody. He almost threw the book across the room in surprise. Of course. He had forgotten. One night, in a fit of simultaneous insanity, he had rushed to his room, ripped the book from its position on the bookshelf, and had sketched like a madman. After he had finished with her delicate face, he had marred her features with dark drips, coloring and shading them in with the lead of his number two pencil. Slowly, her picture had become grotesque, and the boy had shoved it back into its place, collapsed onto his bed, and forgotten the whole thing. Until now…

With an aggravated jerk of his hand, he turned the page so that all he could see was blank white paper. There were a couple pages left – unused, white, and just asking to be drawn on.

Desperate to push the thing he had just seen into the very recesses of his mind, Natsu grabbed a pencil from the tin can on his desk and began to lightly stroke it onto the paper. The lines were faint, but as he went along, and continued, they grew darker as he traced over them. His whole mind was set on that white-haired girl, with her long eyelashes that sometimes acted like veils for her eyes, her plush lips that pressed into his countless times, but what came out from under his pencil was entirely different.

That curve of the cheek was all wrong, and yet he kept it like that. Lisanna's neck was slightly skinnier than that, but his hand didn't stretch out for the eraser. The lips were drawn so incorrectly that Natsu suddenly began to wonder what was wrong with him; was he losing his touch? But no, the picture looked so artistic and well-drawn…Another set of eyelashes here, slightly shorter and spread out more, eyes that sparkled warmly, and…just a little quirk of the lips there. He brought his hand to her head, where he began to drawn lines down, curving, flicking his wrist, going over it again and again. This was wrong as well; the hair he was creating was far too long to belong to his girlfriend's. Ouch. That word really hurt…but Natsu was too engulfed into his art to make sense of the pain.

Finally, he drew a tight-fitting shirt, with buttons and a starched collar. Anxiously, he leaned back, examining what had just gone underway.

It was the exact image of her, right down to her little smile that calmed him down just a bit.

It was his very own Lucy Heartfilia.

There seemed to be a radiance around the whole drawing that steadily grew brighter the longer he stared at it. After a few moments of that pulsing light, Natsu rubbed his eyes in exhaustion and clambered onto his bed, flicking of his lamp, and falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

_It was rainy. Raining, pouring, thundering. Natsu stood on the sidewalk, sneezing as he tried to look for a shelter from the rain. His seven-year-old hands clutched onto the nearby branches of a tree, and he pulled himself up, spluttering out a mouthful of rainwater as he did so. His bottom slid onto the sturdy branch, and he stayed like that, scowling from the occasional drips of water that managed to land onto his head. _

_ "What are you doing?" a shrill voice asked._

_ Feverishly, Natsu looked down, where the ground was almost dry under the tree. A girl that seemed to be his age stared up at him, clutching a pink umbrella tightly. He groaned, turning away in irritation._

_ "You'll catch a cold like that," the girl trilled in a singsong tone. _

_ Natsu wanted to clap his hands over his ears, yell for the girl to go away, but he was unable to do so. Therefore, he looked over the side and barked, "What are YOU doing here?"_

_ The girl, who was a Blondie, stuck out her feet. "My shoes got wet."_

_ Natsu looked at his own shoes, which had somehow managed to stay dry. With only a hint of reluctance, he took them off and threw them down to Blondie, who caught them with a surprised squeal. _

_ "What are you doing?" she called, holding up his shoes in the air in puzzlement._

_ "Take them and put them on!"_

_ "And then?" _

_ Natsu groaned audibly, "Then go home!"_

_ The girl didn't listen. _

_ Slowly, she pulled the footwear on, stood up, and called up to him. "Since I've got an umbrella, I'll take you home."_

_ At first, Natsu thought of declining, but when a raindrop splattered onto his head, he conceded._

_ "All right," he mumbled, carefully sliding off the tree. His knuckles went white as he gripped tightly to the trunk. His feet touched the ground and he ducked his head as he crouched underneath the girl's umbrella. She was shorter than he was, so it was a little hard to stand upright._

_ "Maybe I should hold it," he grumbled, taking it into his hands. _

_ They started to walk side by side, quietly – only because Natsu had glared at Blondie the few times she had tried to speak. When they reached a certain house, she pointed and said proudly, "That's my house!"_

_ Quickly, he turned, grabbed her by the waist, and marched to the front door of her home._

_ "What are you doing?" she asked for the third time that day._

_ "It's bad for a girl to walk home by herself," he mumbled, and blushed, "At least, that's what my mom says. I'll go home by myself with your umbrella. I'll return this to you tomorrow."_

_ "I don't know…" she said uneasily, "My mommy warned me about thieves."_

_ "Look, stupid," Natsu said in irritation, "If I had really wanted to steal this stupid, girly umbrella, I would have done so by now and left you in the rain. I'll swing on by tomorrow and bring your umbrella back! Besides, you've got my shoes."_

_ The girl bit her lip. "Fine. I'll have your shoes cleaned and spotless."_

_ "You don't have to…"_

_ "But I want to."_

_ Natsu rolled his eyes, and without even a word of good-bye, he left, the sheets of rain swallowing his figure up immediately._

* * *

"Natsu, wake up!"

That voice sounded very familiar; warm and fuzzy, just like the sun…

"Oh, Natsu, how many times have I told you not to stay up late?! But do you listen to me? _Nooo!" _

Yep, that voice was familiar alright.

"Lucy," he rasped, still groggy from the dream. He was still thinking about it now: the girl, the umbrella…he still had it. The day after the storm, he had caught a terrible cold, and had never gotten around to giving the umbrella back to that girl. Shaking it off, he looked at Lucy, his forehead throbbing just a little.

"So?"

"So what?"

"What time did you even stay up to?"

He kept quiet, fairly certain that she wouldn't be pleased with the answer.

"Oh, Natsu, you _didn't _stay up until five again, did you!?"

"I couldn't help it," he said helplessly, shrugging his shoulders, and standing up. The blonde put her hands on her hips, one of her eyebrows tilting down.

"Oh, really?"

Her skeptical expression reminded him of Juvia's from last night. Trying to rid himself of the memory without shaking his head, he smiled, "Yeah, really."

Lucy gave him one last reproachful glare, and then cleared her throat. "I'll have you know I bought some wonderful groceries…all right, I can't take it anymore!"

Natsu jumped at her sudden outburst, and turned towards her slowly. "You can't take what anymore?"

"What were you doing so late - or technically, so early in the morning!?"

"Nothing…you know, just thinking."

"About what?"

Natsu slowly edged towards his desk, suddenly aware that what he had been doing last night was sprawled out upon it. If Luce should see such a thing, she'd definitely think of him as some sort of creep.

"You know…things everyone thinks about…calculus, algebra, getting a dog, the meaning of life…"

"Uh-huh."

He was at his desk. Slowly, slowly, he reached out his hand from behind back to grab the paper so that he could hide it.

"Natsu…what are you doing?"

Her sudden question made him freeze…not because he had been found out, but because…because…somehow, that "What are you doing?" of hers seemed all too familiar, as if she had asked him the question too many times before…

The paper suddenly slipped from his hands and fell to the floor, where Lucy stared at it blankly. Finally, she bent down to pick it up; Natsu did nothing to stop her. Only the quick beatings of his heart assured him that he dreaded seeing her reaction to that masterpiece.

"Natsu…" Luce said in an incredulous voice. "Is this what you were doing at _five _in the morning?"

"Luce, I can expl-!"

"I mean…who is this supposed to be anyways? Looks like some kind of morphed creature!"

It took a moment for what she had said to sink in. And then…

"What!? It does not!"

He lunged for the paper, but the blonde only held it out of his arm's reach. He was close to her, and only the girl's bent arm was keeping him away from her.

"Well, what is it supposed to be?"

"For your information, that deformed creature you say is on the paper is you!"

As soon as he had uttered the words, Natsu knew he had made a mistake. He sucked in his breath, waiting for her to throw the page into his face in disgust.

"Got you…" she whispered. He was thoroughly taken aback. "What?"

"Natsu, how could anyone not know who this is? It's so beautiful…but why were you drawing me?"

Stupidly, too late, Natsu realized how close together they were only when Luce looked up, cocking her head up so that she could catch his gaze. The tips of their noses were only centimeters apart, and their lips…

Natsu felt the desire to pull him towards her, to fit her head into the crook of his neck, and hug her. He watched as the blonde tilted her head up more, the edges of her mouth almost grazing his…

Awkwardly, he pulled away, suddenly – so abruptly – thinking of Lisanna. How could he be doing this when he should be mourning the love of his life's death? But still, as the touch of Lucy's hand fell away from his arms, he longed for it, wanted for her to hug him, but the girl kept a respectable distance, her cheeks tinged pink.

"S-sorry…" she started to say, but he cut her off before she could go on any further.

"Luce," he breathed. "Go to my closet, and open it."

Natsu's finger pointed to a door on the other side of the room, which was littered with junk right in front of it. The blonde glanced uneasily at it, and opened her mouth to ask the reason for it, but slowly shut it. Finally, she obliged, and weaved through heaps of clothes to reach the door. Hesitantly, she grabbed the knob and twisted it, blinked as it swung open, and then peered inside warily.

Breath shallow, and voice uneasy, Natsu asked, "Is that umbrella yours?"

The blonde emerged with a faded pink umbrella and marveled over it in amazement. "No. It's not mine."

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked, looking up abruptly.

"Yeah, pretty certain."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed," she said, setting the object down near his bed. Natsu looked at it despairingly. He had been so sure that that blonde girl in the rain had been Lucy…

"A long time ago, it was raining. I was soaked, so I climbed into a tree to get a break from the rain. But this girl came along, and asked me what I was doing. I was annoyed with her, but she continued to tell me that her shoes were soaked. I gave her mine, and she offered me to take her home since she had an umbrella. I dropped her off at her house first, promised to bring her umbrella back the next day…but then I got a cold. I never really got around to giving that thing back."

Lucy looked at him, cocking an eyebrow. "And why exactly would it be important for the girl to be me?"

Natsu hesitated, not because he didn't know the answer, but because he was afraid to share the answer. He extended his hand and laid his palm on her thigh; he felt her start at the sudden contact, and almost jerked his hand away. But he kept his hand still, breathing slowly.

"Natsu…what are you doing?"

"It's important that you be that girl because, Lucy….I want to have some sort of connection with you…something that won't make this seem like a stranger-meet-stranger kind of story."

"What-?"

"But I was wrong…you aren't that girl and…"

He felt like breaking down, falling to the floor. Alarmed, she caught his elbow, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry Natsu…"

"For what?"

Slowly, the blonde smiled. "I still have your shoes, don't I?"

He stood up, suddenly indignant. "Lucy, did you just lie to me?!"

"Look, you told me about that memory. I thought if I told you the truth – that it was my umbrella – I thought you'd have another relapse or something. Natsu, I didn't really want-!"

Her sentence was cut off immediately as Natsu could stand it no longer.

As his lips pressed against hers, everything seemed to click together in his mind. This was how his life was meant to be, right? To be here, with Luce, to kiss her like this…Her mouth felt right on his, as if he were one piece of a jigsaw puzzle and the blonde was the piece manufactured to fit together with him.

Even when they were in their deepest conversational moments, even when Natsu shared a memory with her, Lucy was always worried, wary, scared that something might happen to him. She was always right next to a glass of water, or a first aid kit, prepared to carry out her job as nurse if anything had happened. But to go so far as to deny a past memory of her and him…Natsu couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he had met Luce and had never entered that war, never gotten PTSD, never…witnessed Lisanna getting killed.

Natsu pulled away so suddenly, that Luce fell back onto the bed, her eyes wide with surprise. It occurred to Natsu that the girl had not even tried to kiss him back. He fell to his knees this time, his hands sprawled out on the carpet underneath him.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy, so, so sorry," he whispered.

The blonde brought her hand up to her lips, where she lightly touched them anxiously. "Natsu, you can't…get involved in something like this right now…not yet. You might have a relapse."

He shook his head, the clear answer of why he couldn't already in his mind.

"That's not the problem," he whispered, looking at her with pitiful eyes. He cupped her hand in his, thought better of it, and let go. "I can't…with anybody. I can't leave Lisanna. Not for anybody. Not for you, Luce, especially not for you."

The words hurt her, he could tell, but he was already regressing, the images of his beautiful Lisanna filling his mind's eye. What he had felt for Lucy before was gone now.

"Didn't you say you bought some wonderful groceries, Luce?"

"Yeah," she whispered, and then more loudly, "Yeah, I did! I'll cook you something good right now, Natsu!"

With that being said, she rushed out of the room, her unusual urgency to leave giving away her actual emotions. Natsu sighed, running his hand through his hair, and quietly, he slipped out of his room. His breath caught in his throat as he listened for the quiet clanking of the pots and pans in the kitchen. When they finally came, he crept down the hallway, and pushed open Lisanna's room's door open. He plodded in, his pupils dilating as he took in the familiarity of it all.

He knew this room better than he knew his. Clean, lemony, filled with daylight; it looked exactly the same as it had when Lisanna and he had departed for the war. Timidly, as if he were afraid of shattering the sanctity of the place, he slunk over to the bed in the center, where he flopped down. He would regret wrinkling the bed sheets later. Right now, as he lay there and thought about the last time Lisanna had made this bed, folded the blanket, and fluffed the pillows…he began to sob. Her sweet aroma was permanently on the mattress, and as he rested his head on the cloth, the smell crept up to his nostrils, shooting a thousand needles of pain through him.

"Crying is for wimps, Natsu," Lisanna would tell him, wrinkling her face in disgust. Then, she would smile, laughing as he scowled at her in response.

* * *

As Lucy stood humming, she couldn't help but notice that dirty old door in the corner of the kitchen. For days and weeks now, she had been curious to find out what was in it, but had held herself back. But each day, it got harder to do so, and today, the urge to open it was back…and harder to restrain more than ever.

"No, Luce," she muttered to herself, stirring the sauce for the pasta she was making, "no."

Her eyes once again slid over to the door, and guiltily, she looked over at the hallway leading to Natsu's room.

"Just one peek," she told herself, "and then you've done enough snooping for one day, Lucy Heartfilia."

Carefully, she crept over to the dirty door, and laid her hand on the knob. With a deep intake of breath, she opened it…only to be greeted by an unbreakable darkness. Exasperated, the blonde lifted her hand, and groped the air in the closet. When her hands found something thing, metallic, and cold, she pulled at it. Immediately, a dim, weak light came on, and Lucy peered in hesitantly.

At first, she didn't know how to react to what she saw within. Then finally, she closed the door, shaking her head vigorously as if to forget what she had just seen:

A rumpled suit…with pockets, and cargo pants, buttons, badges, painted with a camouflage green color, and a cap to match. On the shirt, the name DRAGNEEL had been stitched in a tough manner, uniform-like. It was a uniform every man should be proud of…and yet it had been thrown into that dark, dank closet, all rumpled, wrinkled, and creased with anguish. It had lain there, as if forgotten, but there was a person in this house who probably never forgot about it. Sick of remembering it, he had probably grabbed it with a sickly fury, bunched it up with both of his hands, and had thrust it into that small space, not caring as it took on creases that would probably take a while to get out.

As Lucy went back to her stirring, she looked up, remembering a song that her parents used to sing to her when she was little. At first, he mother had sung it to her because she had been scared of the dark at night; then her father had sung it to her when her mother had passed away, the times where all that there was left was despair.

In a soft, lilting voice, she began to sing the well-known words.

"_Draw the light,_

_With all your might,_

_Because in the deep, dark night,_

_It'll help you fight, fight, fight,_

_When you want to know what's right,_

_Draw the light,_

_It'll help you take flight,_

_But not quite,_

_It'll take a while,_

_To soar away on those infant wings of yours,_

_So keep on drawing…_

_The light…_

_Draw the light…_

The song ended gently, and on a low note. Luce's lips curved upwards as she finished the little melody, and the sauce. She whisked the pot off of the stove and began to prepare the meal.

* * *

In Lisanna's room, Natsu had fallen unusually quiet. Through his muffled cries, he had heard a gentle, comforting voice, and had went quiet as he listened to Lucy sing.

"Draw the light," he whispered, and sat up. He ran his hands through his hair. Maybe that was why he had drawn Lucy late into the night of despair and desperation…

* * *

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think! :D**


	6. Chapter 6: Confessions in Scarlet

**Thanks for all of those who reviewed! I am so overwhelmed by how many of you said my story was good! (Thank you SOOOO much!)**

**Minallys – ****thanks for commenting on all of my stories! :D**

**Dog's Paw Burning in Hot Ash****- Thanks for writing several reviews! (It really shot up the number!) XD**

**NameMeLife ****– Thanks for your continued support! (While I was writing Natsu and Lucy's past encounter, I actually hesitated on writing that connection thing because I am also a big fan on first-meeting-then-love stories! But it turned out well, so I kept it!) I'm actually writing a story where Natsu and Lucy are childhood friends, but drift apart throughout the years…not done yet, and the progress is slow in the first four chapters, but…the title is That Unrequited Childhood Love if you want to check it out!**

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**Chapter Six: Confessions in Scarlet**

_Lisanna, don't go!_

Erza Scarlet woke up in a panic, with her hair plastered to her forehead, and her clothes clinging to her skin. For a moment, she was unsure of where she was, until the midnight view of the city skyline came into view from her floor-to-ceiling apartment windows. Shakily, she got out of bed, and walked over to her desk, far in the corner of the bedroom. Upon it was a single leather-bound book, a bit ragged from the many times she had dropped it in the dirt; in the corner of the diary cover was her name, Erza Scarlet, trimmed in gold lettering. In even smaller print was inscribed "From Lisanna".

The redheaded woman flipped it open to a random page, and took in a sharp intake of breath before she read the words. "Today….funeral…Natsu…" She closed it with a thump, her fingers shaking violently. In an attempt to calm herself, she grabbed the book up, and slunk to the ground, where she closed her eyes to gain some comfort.

Instead, memories resurfaced in her mind's eye, and she quickly fluttered her eyes open, clenching her teeth in pain. It had been months since she had had The Dream. She brought her fingertips to her forehead, where she massaged her temples slightly. A frightened whimper escaped her lips, and she slammed her palms down onto the ground, hating the way she sounded so _fragile. _Erza stood up, her knees wobbling as she struggled to retrieve back her strength. Not that there had been any from the start.

She swore under her breath, and brought her eyes to the digital alarm clock on her nightstand.

12:05.

Wearily, the woman dragged herself to bed, her eyelids drooping down with exhaustion, but she found that she could not fall asleep. In her clammy hands was the diary, the pages' corners bending slightly from the amount of pressure that was being applied to them. Erza didn't pay attention to it; she was too busy forcing away the stinging feeling that had suddenly risen in her eyes. At last, she succeeded, but no wave of triumph overtook her. To the contrary, she felt sadder, more sorrowful than before; why was it that she refused to cry for Lisanna's death? This was the question that Jellal had asked her so many times, but she had never dared to try to answer.

Why? She knew exactly why, but the words seemed harsh to everyone's ears if uttered aloud.

She pulled the sheets of the blanket close around her, shivering slightly.

_Lisanna, don't go!_

Her own voice was haunting her mind; surely, she was losing it. Her hand shot out from under the covers and twisted around a pencil, which bent slightly from the pressure of Erza's death grip. Flipping the book open, the woman began to write, the tip of the writing tool dulling as she dragged it across a blank page. Word by word, she released her stress, until the sun had fully risen in the sky.

* * *

_Rap-tap. Rap-tap, rap-tap, rap-tap. _

Natsu was pulled out of his trance as the knocks on the front door grew louder with every passing second.

"Lu-cy-!"

"I've got it," she called from the living room. The blonde sighed as she approached the door, shaking her head at the salmon-headed young man's weird concentration the past couple of days. Plastering a smile to her face, she opened the door with enthusiasm….which quickly dropped once she saw who was out there. Looking very suspicious with a hood of a sweater drawn over face, Miss Scarlet herself was standing before Luce, he hands clasped tightly behind her back.

"Lucy," the woman gasped, "what are you doing here?"

"Um…I kind of work here? Remember? You assigned me to this job?"

It wasn't like the great Erza Scarlet of Magnolia Hospital to suddenly forget her job activities.

"Oh, yes, of course," Erza smiled nervously, but the dark circles around her eyes extinguished any hope of looking cheerful. "You'll have to forgive me Heartfilia-kun, I've just been a little…preoccupied these last couple of days."

Lucy grinned understandingly, "So has Natsu. He's been-!"

Erza stopped her with a raised palm. "Kicking up tantrum, gasping and sobbing, talking in his sleep?"

"Oh…no. He's been…well, I don't know actually. But he seems happy whenever I bring him something to eat."

"Lucy!" Erza snapped abruptly, and the blonde winced. "'Seems happy' and 'is happy' are entirely different things! You should be looking after him more carefully -!"

"She's been looking at me efficiently enough," a smooth voice replied. Luce jumped as the door in her hand was forced to open up even wider. Natsu was right behind her; she could tell because of the abnormal waves of het rolling off his body. ("It's my regular temperature," he had assured her, "I'm not sick, Luce.")

"What do you want, Erza?"

"Natsu!" the woman said in astonishment, as if she had not expected to run into Natsu at his very own house. "I just-!"

Lucy gasped sharply as Miss Scarlet staggered for a moment, and she caught her in her arms. "Are you okay, ma'am? You seem awfully tired."

"I was fine when I first started out," the head doctor replied huskily, straightening herself. "It was just that darn group of kids trying to mug me-!"

"You were mugged?!" the blonde cried in alarm.

"_Almost _mugged. Beat them all."

"You don't look too well, Erza. Maybe you should come inside for a rest."

The redhead tried to protest as the blonde and salmon head took her in, and pushed her onto a couch. She slouched in it, her energy immediately depleting. She rubbed her temples, gazing at Natsu intensely. "Natsu…"

"What?"

"I tried so hard to beat the-"

"Language, please!" Luce wailed.

"…the _heck _out of those muggers because…"

Erza slipped out a black book from inside her sweater. "…because I didn't want them to have this."

"What is it?" the young man inquired, but the woman only urged for him to take it. He obliged, turning the leather-bound object in his hands gently. Finally, he ran his right thumb over Erza's engraved name in the corner, and his mouth twitched as he read the fine print…"From…"

"Don't tell me this is the present that she-"

"Open it."

Natsu looked doubtful for a second, but flipped open the cover obediently. His eyes ran over the delicate strokes of lines forming letters, which in turn formed into words on the first page.

He looked at her, "Your first picnic?"

The head doctor waved her hand in the air. "Turn a few more pages…until you find it. It won't be hard to miss."

He did as she said, and his eyes widened as her handwriting changed on the seventh page. What had been gentle, loving lines before had become powerful, angry strokes. Luce, leaning in, gasped.

"This is how you wrote on my paperwork. I knew the writing in the beginning didn't look familiar."

Natsu held up the open diary, his breath slowing. "Erza, what is the meaning of this?"

The scarlet-haired woman closed her eyes, rubbing her temples methodically. "After Lisanna's death, I became…hollow inside. I filled with anger and despair, and began to write like that."

She meant to stop there, but the words just kept on gushing out like a river, or a leak in a dam. Trickle by trickle, it would come out, until it had become a full-blown flood. Her eyes snapped open, her hands clutching onto the armrests on either side of her.

"I told myself, over and over again…that if I had stopped her that day, if I had told her, convinced her, to not to go join the army…she would have been alive right now! I keep telling myself it's my fault that I wasn't careful enough, persistent enough. I keep telling myself…" Erza looked up at Natsu ferociously, "_that's it's all your fault that you didn't stop her!"_

"Erza," he said calmly.

But the woman didn't stop. She stood; her actual height seemed to increase by millions of feet.

"_I keep telling myself that if Natsu, if Natsu had tried to tell her not to go, then she would be alive right now! Why didn't you stop her!? You go around, crying your freakin' eyes out, sobbing about how all of us have gotten over her death! Well, you know what!? None of us have! Gray drinks, Juvia pricks herself with a knife, and Jellal practically starves himself if no one tells him to eat!"_

For a moment, she fell silent, watching for the man's reaction. Finally, Natsu inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and then opened his mouth wide…

"Don't you think I haven't thought about that? Did you think that I really agreed to letting the one girl I had loved for my whole life right away? I tried to convince her so many times to not follow me. But she wouldn't listen! I tried to tell myself it was okay, that Lisanna wouldn't get killed…but things have a funny way of turning out, don't they? Erza…have you ever really thought that I have never thought that…_it would have been better if I had been shot instead of her!?"_

"Don't say that," Lucy whispered, her voice cracking. The two immersed in their argument turned towards her; the blonde had begun to tremble unremittingly.

"Luce-"

"Frankly, I think you're all sick," the blonde spat, glaring at the both of them, "Is this what you do when times grow desperate? You turn against each other?"

"Heartfilia-!"

"When my mother died…I hated everyone. My father, who tried so much to help me, was swatted away by me repetitively before I even accepted him. And after I had fully come to appreciate him, and resolved to spend more time with him…do you know what happened?"

"You told me…he passed away from an illness two years ago…"

"That's right," Luce whispered, and looked at Natsu with watery eyes, "a month right before my birthday."

"It hurt so, so much. I was left alone once again, but I tried not to look at it that way. Instead, I reached out for the people around me. Because if Daddy's teachings about remaining happy and optimistic were to be wasted, he would have lived in vain."

The blonde looked at her two friends. "And this taught me that…any second…any person whom you have turned your back to can be snatched away at any second. Even if it seems highly implausible, highly impossible, it's always a possibility that the person you've taken for granted, the person you've just betrayed with your words and turned your back to, will be gone tomorrow."

"So why are you guys blaming each other for the death of another? Who knows, Miss Scarlet, what if Natsu's thought came true and he was killed tomorrow, tonight? If you guys do this now, you'll gain too many regrets in the future."

Erza remained silent, her eyes falling to the ground. And then suddenly, water drops appeared right below her feet. She tried to brush them away, but an unrelenting stream flowed from her eyes.

"Sh*t," she muttered, "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!"

The tears kept coming and she wiped at them angrily, her harsh demeanor falling away to reveal a fragile, hurt person.

"Stop!" she whispered, "Stop!"

Natsu clutched at his forehead, ran into his room, and brought something out. It was his sketchbook, and as he handed it over to Erza, she gazed at it blankly. It was already open to a page, and as the redheaded woman peered at it, she began to sob raucously.

"I've been working on this for days," he said softly, dropping the book to the ground as Erza fell to the ground. Lucy looked down at it, and picked it up; she traced her finger along the lines of Erza's laughing smile, Gray's carefree expression, Juvia's open-mouthed laugh, Jellal's relaxed face, Natsu's broad grin, and Lisanna's dainty giggle. Erza was stumbling over something, Jellal reached for her hand, Juvia clung to Gray, Gray was shoving his hands into his pockets, Natsu had his hand at his side, and Lisanna was interlocking her fingers with Natsu's. Around them, a summer, carefree day was happening, and to the side were boutiques, and on the other side was traffic. A little girl ran behind them, carrying her little ice cream cone. She looked vaguely familiar, and so did the man walking briskly after her, clutching onto his hat as the warm breeze threatened to carry it off.

Realization hit Luce with so much impact, she nearly fell backwards.

That little girl was _her._

She looked at Natsu, and he returned her gaze. He smiled, then crouched down to try to bring Erza back to her feet.

The woman resisted, her elbows jerking away from Natsu's grasp.

"I tried so hard not to cry when the news reached me. I held it in then, I held it in at the funeral, and I held it in throughout all the months you were suffering."

Erza took a deep breath.

"It's all right, Erza," Natsu soothed, his voice calming.

"I thought it wasn't fair…for me to have Jellal, for Gray to have Juvia…when Lisanna was taken away from you!"

Natsu stiffened, and said in a strained voice, "I don't want your happiness to be tainted by me."

Erza sobbed, and grabbed onto Natsu's arm. "You don't understand Natsu! We're friends! We're supposed to stick together! If you're not happy, we shouldn't be either…!"

The man pulled the redhead into a hug, stroking her hair methodically. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, but he smiled.

"I really, really loved Lisanna…" he whispered. "But I also really, really love you guys."

Erza wept openly into his arms, her days of exhaustion and pain pouring out.

"Tell me it's going to be okay, Erza…" Natsu's voice cracked. "Just like in the old days…tell me everything's going to be okay."

The woman pulled herself from his embrace, and took a deep breath. Through watery tears, she said, "It's going to be…okay."

Lucy watched as the two friends sat on the carpet, grieving over Lisanna's death…together…catching up on something they should have done months ago, but chose instead to do it now. Their tension ebbed away as their problems were resolved in their tears that flowed down their cheeks. Everyone knew that the other was going through so much pain, they already knew…but it was good to get all those bottled up feelings out into the open, explain how you felt….explain everything. After that's been done, it can be so easy to stop the other individual's tears by crying with them.

The blonde felt like crying, too.

For her father, her mother, Lisanna…

So many people, and so much love.

* * *

**I'm sorry if the end seemed a bit weak. I didn't know what to write, so let my imagination flow...and that's what came out! Thank you for reading (and sorry for how long it took me to update!) and please review!~**


	7. Chapter 7: Confessions in Ice

**Here is the seventh chapter! I'm VERY, very, very, very sorry I took so long to update!**

**I was wondering how to end the chapter, and then today...I started typing and this is what it became!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Confessions in Ice**

Gray Fullbuster asked for another cup.

For a second, the bartender thought about saying no, and telling the poor guy to go home. But then he decided against it. He got the cup Gray was handing to him and poured another cup of beer.

"Here ya go, fella."

The black-haired man took the beverage and began to gulp it in.

This bar usually closed at nine. It was midnight, now. When Gray Fullbuster walked into these premises, the rules would change. He was allowed to drink all he wanted. He had lost someone to the war, and the only way to drown out all his sorrows was to immerse himself into the toxic dreamland of alcohol.

* * *

_"Lisanna, you're so, so, so ugly!"_

_ The girl pouted at him, and swatted his arm._

_ "You're the one who's ugly, you stripper!" Natsu cried, taking Lisanna's hand and running away._

* * *

Gray emerged from his blackout, only to find it had just been thirty minutes of sleep. His whole being wanted to scream in pain and sorrow, but he kept it in. He had to be cool, calm, and collected Gray; he had to show Natsu how he was supposed to be. Stay strong, stay strong, stay strong…

_"Gray?" _a voice piped, shooting an arrow into his mind, "Is that you?"

"Nah," he mumbled. His speech was being affected by his drunken state.

He looked up, smiling lazily as he saw golden hair pour from the heavens. It swayed and swayed, beckoning him to grab it…

"Rapunzellll," he garbled, grabbing a fistful of the shining locks.

"What the-?" the voice said, "You're really drunk, aren't you?"

"Llllet down yer loooong hair," he replied back. Had he suddenly disappeared into a fairy tale where everything was going to be okay?

"Oh, crap," Rapunzel muttered, "And to think I was just sent here to get some wine for Erza and Natsu's celebration."

"Erza", "Natsu"?

"How do you know who my friends are, Princess?"

"Oh goodness, if not for the reason why I suspect you're so out of it, I would have been cracking up and rolling on the ground, by now."

"That's not veeerrry ladylike of you, Rapunzelll."

The princess tittered, and he felt two slim hands grabbing onto him. A pair of warm, chocolate eyes peered into his. He pushed away the girl's face, "No Rapunzelll, I've got a preeettty girlfriend named Juviiiiaaaa, I can't kissss you no matter whaaat."

He could feel Rapunzel tense up in irritation. She was helping him to his feet now.

"Careful there, toots. He's so drunk he could topple over if a feather hit him."

"Yeah…well, I'm a nurse."

Nurse, nurse, nurse.

He had no idea that the princess from the classic tale of a damsel in distress was trained in the medical field. He swayed on his feet, gripping onto the long golden strands of the princess's hair.

"Ow! Gray, would you cut it out!? I'm not Rapunzel!" the girlish voice snapped as they walked through the door and into the outside world.

Everything was sure cold. The night sky was clear, and darkness had fully descended, but the nighttime city noises were still blaring.

"Then, who are you? Am I being kidnapped?"

"Uh, no. We just need to get you to Natsu's before you get yourself hurt."

The cold air was suddenly cut off from his face as he was packed into a small, warm space. The seats were soft, and vibrated as not-Rapunzel climbed into the seat ahead of him.

"Car…" he whispered, "So we're not going by carriage?"

From the rearview mirror, he could see…_Lucy's…_eyes roll amusedly.

So, if he was in that blonde nurse Lucy Heartfilia's car, then he was going to the hospital, right? He wasn't sick. Only hurt. He felt as if his heart was bleeding most of the time, and there was no way he could stop it. Gray could feel the bruises and cuts of sadness piercing through him, and he groaned loudly.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked worriedly, starting up the engine.

"No."

"Alright, then…"

Gray watched as the scenery passed by through the window. His insides felt like they were burning up, and his vision kept blurring. By the time the car had stopped in front of Natsu's house, he felt like he was going to pass out. Lucy wrenched open the car door of the backseat, and brought him out. Cold air brushed against his cheeks, and he moaned even more.

"C'mon, Gray, just a few more steps, okay?"

He nodded, and continued to walk. "I was having a fun time at the bar…"

Lucy's arms tensed, and she glanced at him with a worried expression. "Erza wasn't kidding about your drinking problem."

"Erza," he said bitterly, "I keeeep tellin' herr I don't h-have a drinkin' prob…lem."

The blonde shook her head, and braved the last few steps of the journey to Natsu's home. She knocked on the door.

It opened. "Lucy, did you have troub-?"

Natsu stopped talking as he spotted Gray. His eyes widened, and he reached out to the black-haired man.

"Nnnoooo, get your freakin', ugly hands offfff of me, Natsuuu."

"Ugly?" the salmon-haired man asked incredulously, and looked down at his palms.

"Natsu," Lucy hissed, and shoved Gray into the other boy's arms. "Bring him to the couch. He needs water."

As the blonde trotted off, Natsu supported the black-haired boy with one of his arms, and closed the door with the other. A blazing redhead came in.

"What's with all the noi-?"

Her voice caught in her throat as the wretched man fell into her line of vision. "Gray. Drinking?"

"Shut up, Erza," he growled, as he felt his feet drag on the floor. "You'll nev-er under-stad the-e wonders-s alco-hol can doooo fer you."

He felt the support of soft cushions on his back, and sighed in satisfaction. "This is just like the bed I had when I was small. Excepttt it was a racecar bed."

"Did he really have a racecar bed when he was younger? I don't remember it," Natsu whispered.

"He's making up memories again," Erza sighed.

"I like to make up memories," Gray mused, "That way, Lisanna is alive, and we're all happy, happy people."

He felt someone pressing a cold glass against his hands, and he growled. "No! Don't try to give me some water! You're just like Lisanna, always worrying over nothing!"

He pushed away the glass, and heard it crashing to the floor. A collective gasp came from a smudge with golden hair. His vision was clouding up again.

Gray rubbed at his eyes, and went limp as nostalgia washed over him.

* * *

_"Are you crying Gray?" Lisanna asked him, kneeling by him as he rubbed at his eyes._

_ He was lying on the very couch he was resting on now. _

_ "Nah," he answered, his cracking voice betraying him. He massaged his forehead._

_ "You do know that Juvia called me, right?" the white-haired girl said gently. "She told me you guys had a fight?"_

_ Gray sighed, sitting up, the whites of his eyes red. "She doesn't like the fact that I'm going to go into the war with you guys."_

_ "I'd expect so."_

_ "I explained everything to her. That I didn't want to leave you guys alone…I also told her I didn't want to leave her alone…" his voice trailed off, "…but I don't really want to let you guys run off into that war by yourselves, either." _

_ "Gray…" Lisanna said softly. "Didn't you tell us that you were going to-?"_

_ "Propose to her after the war…? Yeah…but after I explained to her that I'm going with you guys…she looked like she wanted to break our relationship off."_

_ The girl huffed. "Juvia isn't so childish and rash that she would do something like that."_

_ "I-?"_

_ "Gray, I want you to go and talk to her…now. Now that the news is out, maybe she'll be more understanding as you explain again. She's probably cooled down by now. She's a very comprehensive and kind person; she'll get why you've just got to go."_

_ He stood up, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "Yeah…I know she is."_

_ He grinned slyly at her. Propose? She had no idea how that word would affect her as well._

* * *

"Gray!"

Erza's voice cut him like a knife.

His eyes fluttered open. Daylight was streaming through the windows, and his head felt like it had been run over by a car.

"What…happened?"

"You passed out after being dragged here by Lucy…from the bar. Didn't I tell you not to drink so much?"

Gray made an effort to sit up, and groaned as he leaned against the back of the couch. "Lucy…? Where's 'here'?"

"Natsu's house."

The black-haired man surveyed the rundown state of the place he was in; it was definitely Natsu's place. "Why are you here?"

"I can't just leave knowing you're here drunk and delusional."

"Ah, the Drunk King is awake."

He turned to look at a busty nurse who was eyeing him with a worried, but faintly annoyed attitude.

"Don't you know that drinking a large amount of beer much too often will lead to diseases and illnesses?" Lucy said snippily. "I called Juvia last night to inform her where you were. She rushed over here, but she couldn't get a day off from teaching her swimming class."

Gray let his head fall into his hands, but straightened back up again when he saw Natsu's familiar feet tread the living room carpet. The salmon-headed male stared at him a moment before saying, "Lucy. Could you set up a breakfast for four today, please?"

"Four?"

"You're eating, too. You've been tending to Gray's restless sleep all morning, haven't you? Barely ate anything."

The blonde grew flustered for a moment, before rushing off to the kitchen.

"So that's how it is," Gray muttered under his breath, before turning his attention to Natsu. "What's up?"

"What's up?" the male returned incredulously. "Is that all you can say after staggering in here after drinking yourself almost to death?"

"If you can confine yourself in your house after the incident for months endlessly," Gray replied coolly, "Then I can drink as much of the toxic beverage you have all mentioned as I want."

Natsu shook his head. "By incident…do you mean Lisanna's death? Aren't you supposed to be cool, calm, and collected Gray who can say that without a second thought?"

The dark-haired man froze.

His fingertips grew cold as he contemplated what the boy before him had just uttered.

"What if I don't want to be called 'cool and calm'?"

Erza blinked, her face hardening.

"What if I want to be a completely hysterical guy who goes crazy over the death of one of his childhood friends?"

"Then be that guy."

Everyone glanced up at the blonde who was bringing in four bowls of soup. She set them onto a table in the center of the room. Lucy straightened up, wiping her hands on her clothes.

"I don't see what the problem is, Gray."

He blinked. Silence, no movement, and then…

"You want to know the _problem?" _ he said quietly. "The _problem _is that, unlike everyone else, I never tried to stop that girl from joining the army. The problem is that I said 'okay' to her joining. The problem is that I was too absorbed into my own problems that I never paid attention the danger she was getting herself into. _The problem is that she never found out what the word 'proposal' would mean to her!"_

Natsu froze, his face turning into stone.

"Gray," he warned.

"I was going to ask Juvia to marry me after the war!" he continued, "The only ones I told about this were Natsu and Lisanna! Remember Natsu? I told you first. And we made a pact! That after we came home, we would both ask our girlfriends to marry us!"

He felt desperate, searching Natsu's face for some kind of reaction. A look of hurt crossed the other man's face for just a second.

Erza turned towards Natsu. "Is that true?"

He gripped onto his shirtfront, and gulped. "Y-yes. Gray and I…were going to propose…"

He had almost forgotten…he had almost forgotten such an important promise.

Gray fell to the floor, clutching each of his shoulders in each of his hands. "I never even asked Juvia to marry me. Natsu never got the chance, so why should I?!"

Tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

"Lisanna never even knew you were going to ask her to marry you."

"So what?"

Everyone in the room blinked.

Natsu was looking at Gray with a blank expression. "If Lisanna never knew, then she never knew."

"But-!"

"Why should that affect your relationship with Juvia?"

Gray laughed. "I never knew you could be so heartless, Natsu."

Lucy sighed. "Natsu's right, Gray. If each of you guys thinks you can never find happiness because Natsu's happiness has been dented…how can call of you survive for the rest of your life? Besides, even if you say you were too absorbed in your own problems, even if you've totally convinced yourself that you didn't care when she joined the 'dangerous' army…thinking about her constantly now…doesn't that show you love her? Doesn't that show you really were concerned about her well-being?"

The black-haired man looked down, and his hands fell to his sides. "Why are you even talking? You're not involved in any of this."

"If she's here, right now, hearing us talk about this," Natsu growled, "then she's involved as much as you are, Gray."

Erza didn't say anything; she kept her gaze on Gray's head.

"Whatever," Gray said tonelessly. "If you don't CARE that you never got to marry Lisanna, then it's not my problem."

"What is up with you and the subject of Lisanna and I marrying each other!? Why are you so upset about it!?"

Gray opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it. "Because if I propose to Juvia…it won't be fair-!"

"Fairness? Fairness!? Gray, love ISN'T about fairness! It's about whether the love is returned or not, it's about whether both people are true to each other, it's about how the relationship TURNS out! In the end, would Lisanna really be satisfied that you're making excuses to not propose to the woman you love?" Natsu asked, his voice strained.

"Natsu's situation might injure you a little bit Gray…but does that give you the right to take away Juvia's happiness and hope for a cheerful marriage?" Erza asked quietly.

He didn't answer.

"So we made a pact together…" Natsu said steadily. "But that didn't work out…but you made a promise with Lisanna as well, right? You said that you'd tell Juvia that you wanted to change your relationship to husband and wife. Will you BREAK that promise, Gray? At least, finish HALF of our pact."

Gray gasped for air. "But Natsu…"

"Lisanna would never be offended by something like this. The truth is…you were scared of hurting me, weren't you?"

The black-haired boy stayed silent, and said, "You're not hurt, are you?"

Natsu shook his head. "A little shaken up…but I'm still intact."

The salmon-haired male smiled. "And Lisanna DOES know the meaning of proposal. Remember in seventh grade? We made a proposal to stick together always, right? And, sometime later, I made a proposal to her that I'd cherish her in our relationship…that I'd love her extremely and absolutely…isn't that enough Gray? Is it truly marriage that defines true love? Or is the commitment of one person to another?"

Gray blinked.

"Go propose to Juvia, Gray," Erza said.

"She'll be delighted," Lucy added.

The boy, still sitting on the ground, reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was a small case, shaped vaguely like a heart.

He clutched it in his hand, and ran out of the room, his heart hammering in his chest. Gray flung the door open, and raced down the street.

His feet knew the way to that place. Slowly, bit by bit, the neighborhoods became familiar, and he rounded a very well-known corner. In front of him was a daycare center: Dreyar & Fairy Tail Education Center for Kids.

He didn't even care as teachers watched him as he sprinted down the hallways, or as the kids in the room stared as he barged into Juvia's class.

"Gray?" she asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

He was breathless, tired, exhausted, and his head was aching, but he managed to get down on one knee. Gradually, he lifted the box – open and revealing a petite, diamond ring – mustered out, "Juvia Lockser, will you marry me?"

The light-blue-haired woman stared down at him, and her eyelids fluttered. She was blinking back tears, and her mouth curved upwards in a slight smile.

But there was something wrong.

She was trying to force down the smile into a frown.

Juvia withdrew her hands from anywhere near Gray. Looking away, she said in tearful gasps, "No, I can't. I'm sorry, Gray."

* * *

**Hope you liked this chapter!**

**Again, so, so, so, very, very, very, very sorry that this chapter took a LONG time to update.**

**I'll try - TRY - to update sooner next time.**

**And I'll try to update That Unrequited Childhood Love soon, too. (I know a lot of you are upset over Taiga leaving...)**

**Hope you review!**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter of MAB!**


	8. Chapter 8: Confessions in Water

**Yay! I have updated...finally! I am so sorry for the hold-up! I hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I Do not own Fairy Tail!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Confessions in Water**

No. This couldn't be happening. For a moment, it seemed as if her life had just completely clicked together, and another moment, it had all come crashing down on her. The man that she dearly loved was on one knee, holding out a delicate box to her. Inside the box was a sparkling ring covered with genuine diamonds.

The truth? Juvia really, really wanted to put that jewelry on. She wanted to slip it onto her finger and admire as it gleamed on her slender, pale finger. She had worked hard to earn Gray's love, and this day was a dream come true for her. Not everyone found "the one", and she was lucky to have someone she truly loved beside her. But right now, her stomach felt sick, her throat had gone completely dry, and her eyes had become watery and stung a little. It was a good thing that the kids in the class didn't know what exactly was going on, and how impacting this moment was, or their little minds would have been scarred. Not exactly how Juvia had wanted her proposal to turn out.

Another piece of truth? She had really, really wanted to say yes. Her heart and mind screamed it, but her guilty, guilty conscience halted her. It was a police officer that righted her wrongs, and directed her on the right path.

Right now, all Juvia really wanted was for Gray to leave, and act cool, like he usually did. She would be hurt by his indifferent reaction, but she wanted to brush this whole thing off as if it were nothing.

But instead, she could see his shoulders slump down, and his whole face fall. It was as if a gigantic fly swatter had come down on him. Her lungs hurt, and her vision swam as she felt a wave of guilt drown her.

Why had Juvia Lockser, longtime admirer of THE Gray Fullbuster, said no to his proposal to her?

Everyone could have guessed it if they knew her life so far.

Lisanna.

Strauss.

Although she was mainly Natsu's girlfriend, that innocent, pure girl had played a big role in Juvia's years, and right now, a particular talk between the two girls was playing in the blunette's mind.

"Huh?" Gray asked. His eyes had become dangerously unfocused.

"Shit," he said, holding his forehead in his hands.

He had just become aware of the hideous headache he was feeling.

"Gray, could you…go home, please?" the woman asked him, turning from him painfully.

"But Juvia…"

"Gray."

The blunette tried to hold back her tears when she heard the Erza's voice.

"Come. Now."

Juvia turned back to the class as her two friends left.

"Uh…where were we?"

"The important bonds between friends!" a girl chirped.

"Right," Juvia said weakly. "Right."

* * *

"What the f*ck, Natsu!?" Gray shouted, pushing the other man in anger. "You said she would say yes!"

"I THOUGHT she would say yes!" he countered.

"Okay…Natsu…you're not fully well, yet, okay? Sit down. Stop yelling, EVERYONE," Lucy demanded.

Surprisingly, Natsu, the most hotheaded one of them all, listened to the blonde obediently. Under normal circumstances, Gray would have teased Natsu about the way he treated Lucy specially, but this was not, by any means, NORMAL. Juvia had just rejected him, he had been ushered out without an explanation, and oh, did he mention Juvia and he had been going out for YEARS already!?

If he found out now that Juvia didn't even love him throughout all those YEARS, what would he even do?

All right, sure, he had been unsure about agreeing to date the girl in the beginning, but he had fallen for her pretty hard after a few months of her pursuing his love. And he had finally agreed to become a couple.

But, the situation was completely turned, now.

If Juvia didn't love him anymore, Gray would NOT let go. He'd get her to love him once more, and-

"Gray, slow down."

The black-haired man blinked. He hadn't even been aware that he had been voicing his thoughts aloud.

"Erza," he said, "What am I going to DO?"

Instead of answering, the scarlet-haired woman gazed downwards, probably coming up with an excuse about Juvia's behavior and reply.

"There's a reasonable, logical explanation for all of this," Lucy inputted, crossing her arms.

"That's what ALL people say in ALL paranormal and slasher films before they get killed," Gray muttered, falling into a chair, and gazing at no one in particular.

The blonde shot him a glare; for someone who had just gotten his proposal rejected, his friends sure weren't treating him like he was. He was tempted to bolt out of the front door, down to the nearest bar (about 1.7 miles from here actually), and drown himself in the horrible, vile, yet consoling toxic of liquor and alcohol. (A/N: I do not, DO NOT, think that anyone, ANYONE, should drink to make their problems go away temporarily. This is just a train of thought Gray is thinking since the problem portrayed for him in this story is alcoholism. I do not promote alcoholism in ANY WAY.) He glanced towards his door quickly. Erza caught it.

"NO, Gray," the redhead reprimanded, scooting towards his escape route.

"No worries, Erza, "Gray reassured, and pointed in back of him. "I've got the window I can jump through. And who said you could come into my house, anyways?"

"Look," Lucy said matter-of-factly, "I bet that Juvia's answer and her behavior roots from THAT."

"THAT?" Natsu said in confusion. "What's THAT?"

Lucy looked behind her, in the direction where Natsu was absently staring. "THAT, my dear Natsu, is a lamp. The 'that' I am currently referring to, though, is L-I-S-A-N-N-A. Lisanna, my friends."

"So…" Gray said in a flat, yet slightly interested tone, "you think that Juvia refuses to marry me because of something between her and-?"

"Lisanna?" Erza finished.

"Exactly," the blonde nodded. "Ma'am, didn't you say that Juvia cuts herself with a knife?"

"'Pricks' herself. Although we are damaged from Lisanna's death, we do not go to the extreme."

"Yes, ma'am, but do you think that by pricking herself, Juvia has been restraining herself from doing something? That maybe she hurts herself whenever she gets the urge to do something?"

"Like…something sexual?" Natsu asked.

"NO!" Lucy said, "What we were just talking about! Maybe she's trying not to think about a future between Gray and her where they are married! Maybe she looks at it as some kind of punishment!"

"So she thinks marrying me is so bad that she tries to hurt herself?" Gray asked quietly.

"No. Miss Scarlet, did she ever talk about the topic of marriage with Lisanna?"

"I would not know," Erza said, shaking her head. "If they did, I guess I was never there to hear them."

"There's only one way to find out, then," Natsu said simply. "Juvia always liked to swim, didn't she?"

"Yeah?"

"She said something about water being clear, and pure, and that if people didn't lie, we'd be just like water…metaphorically, right?"

"Yeah."

The salmon-haired man smiled. "Then let's do it…these confessions in water."

* * *

"Bye, Miss Lockser!"

"Bye, dear."

The blue-haired woman fell into her chair, and slowly began to look at the drawings drawn by the children today. In truth, she really wanted to put off going home to Gray. She didn't need all this stress, right now. Not after Lisanna. Not after Natsu. Not after work.

She let her head fall onto her desk.

"Miss Lockser?"

She looked up, and straightened herself as she recognized the people before her as the parents of one of the students...Kelleigh, she believed.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Rothman…what can I do for you?"

Mrs. Rothman looked uneasily at her husband, and cleared her throat. "Actually, Miss Locker, we were here to ask you if you're all right."

"Uh…huh?"

"Kelleigh told us about your…uh…relationship situation today," Mr. Rothman added.

"Oh…"

Juvia did NOT need this, right now. Looking around these people…she could see a few more parents on their way to give her their consolation.

But she didn't need it, right now.

"Um, well, I don't really want to…discuss about that right this instant."

"We understand…but if you need to any of us to help out in the classroom, we could, you know?"

"Don't worry. I'm perfectly stable enough to teach."

"Well-"

"Watch out."

Juvia blinked as she heard that familiar voice. A voice she had not heard for months until just recently. Natsu.

Sure enough, his bright, salmon hair bobbed into view. But it couldn't be him, could it? That guy…he had not stepped out of the house once…for months! And the last time he had done it? He had been in the hospital with a head injury. The blunette blinked once, twice, thrice, before she could concede that it was indeed her childhood friend. He looked around at the gathering of people, blinked in irritation, and spotted her. His face lit up, and he gestured to someone behind him. Or some PEOPLE.

Gray, Erza, that blonde. Three people in all.

Juvia stood, her hands tightening into fists, and excused herself quietly from all the parents.

She approached her friends.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Here to talk to you," Gray said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

His low tone, and his downward gaze pierced her heart, but she stood her ground.

"Not now…I'm kinda busy…"

"All right!" Erza called. "Clear out, if you know what's good for you!"

Despite the reluctant mumbling and such, the classroom soon emptied. Juvia sighed, completely disheartened by this turn of events and turned to go back to her desk.

That blonde grabbed her wrist. "Stay."

Blondie wrenched her hand up and examined her fingertips; Natsu peered over her shoulder. It was obvious that he was trying to not get too close to her.

She finally let go, and Juvia let her hand fall to her side.

"What do you want?"

"Why won't you marry me?" Gray countered.

"Oh…that's what this is about."

The black-haired man's eyes narrowed, "Of course that's what this is about! What ELSE would it be about?"

His harsh voice cut her like a knife, but she managed to-

"You look abnormally pale," Natsu speculated indifferently.

Her hands flew to her face, and she held her cheeks mournfully. Her composure was long gone. All there was left was an aching pain right in her chest. The blunette grit her teeth, and lamented her poor ability to hide her surprised reaction to Natsu's comment.

"Juvia," Gray said roughly, and grabbed her wrist.

Even though his tone was slightly angry and hurt, his voice saying her name warmed her heart.

"What?" she asked, her voice strained.

"If your rejection has something to do with Lisanna-!"

"Then what?"

"Huh?"

"What can you say if I rejected you because Lisanna died?"

"Wha-?"

"It's not like you can say it's _wrong _can you? Lisanna was my friend. She was _our_ friend. Something as common as the statement, 'She would have wanted us to marry' would be pointless to me, Gray!"

Juvia ripped her had free from her boyfriend's grasp, and sank to the floor. She hugged her knees, and glared up at the people standing above her. "I don't need your consolation and I _don't _need the bullshit you're about to give me!"

Erza bent down, and grabbed her hand. The redhead helplessly looked around, and gazed at Gray pleadingly.

He said nothing. He only looked away, his emotions conflicting as the crossed his face. The blonde stared at him demandingly, and gave up when she realized he could not see her due to his head position.

"Juvia…what did Lisanna say to you?"

"She didn't say ANYTHING, Natsu. Do you need to be so nosy when you acted like suck a prick when she died?"

"Juvia!" Erza snapped.

The blunette looked away, her rage finally urging her tears to fall.

"I promised Lisanna that we would have our wedding on the same day!" she whispered. "How is that supposed to even happen when she's not even HERE, anymore?"

Juvia stood up, and dusted herself off. "I'm angry at her, okay? I admit it! I, Juvia Lockser, am ANGRY at Lisanna Strauss, deceased girlfriend of Natsu Dragneel, for dying in the war!"

"Wha-?"

"We talked about it, okay? Marriage! She was so, so, so excited waiting for Natsu to propose to her! I was excited for a proposal from...Gray, too! All right? How am I supposed to live on when I know that I'M the only who got a proposal, got married, and had a taste of what marriage really is?! And we even made that stupid promise to have a double wedding, and if Erza ever joined us on those conversations, we'd have her agree to a triple wedding! All right? We were stupid! How am I supposed to be happy on my wedding day when THAT STUPID PROMISE is running through my mind?

"And so I got angry! Of course I was sad over her death, that she never got to continue her love story and life! But I got enraged after I remembered the promise! How could she go ahead and die and leave me here, hesitant to get married, hesitant to have a husband, hesitant to BE WITH THE ONE I LOVE just because she and I made that RIDICULOUS PROMISE?!"

Juvia was taking deep breaths. As soon as the words stopped coming out of her mouth, she felt horrible. She was actually ANGRY at Lisanna, a veteran on the war. Natsu, the boyfriend, was staring at her like she had just sprouted another head from her shoulder. Even Erza was speechless for once.

"You're not mad at her Juvia," Gray said softly.

"What?"

"You're not mad at her."

"Of course I am! I-!"

"You're frustrated, right? You really wanted to keep that promise. You wanted to fulfill the promise. And you were so frustrated when you found out she died, right? Because now you couldn't do anything with her anymore. You can't keep that promise, you can't talk about marriage with her anymore, you can't make promises anymore, you can't agree with her to force Erza into a triple wedding, you can't buy candy with her anymore, you can't go to the park anymore, you can't take anymore secret photos of her and Natsu kissing anymore, you can't tease her about loving Natsu so much anymore, you can't buy her Christmas presents anymore, you can't buy her birthday balloons and expect for her to hug them anymore, you can't help her go Christmas shopping for Natsu anymore, you can't help her make chocolates for Natsu anymore, you can't celebrate over Natsu's White Day present to her with her anymore, you can't congratulate her on becoming Natsu's fiancé, and you can't even attend her wedding…and you're frustrated, right? You're frustrated and angry that you didn't get a CHANCE to keep that promise. And you're angry that Lisanna was taken before she could get married and have a wonderful wedding day like you all planned, right? And you want her back, right? You want to go back in time so that the promise was never made so that her death would hurt you less, right? I know you Juvia, you're not selfish, and you try to make everyone around you happy. You're angry that you never got to make Lisanna happy, right?"

Juvia sobbed, and hit Gray's chest after he had kneeled down next to her. The black-haired boy ignored her hits and hugged her close to him. He was blinking back tears himself.

"And you're sad that you won't ever get to see her smile anymore…huh?"

Everyone could connect to that.

Lisanna smiling.

Mouth turned up, eyes lit up, and her short, white hair curling to meet her beautiful face.

Natsu could feel his throat constricting.

It had been a couple of days since he had allowed himself to review once again the features of his girlfriend.

The curve of her neck, the strands of her hair, the length of her legs, the softness of her skin, and the delicacy of her walk…he could not, and would not forget them.

"Yeah," Juvia said quietly, "Yeah, I do…"

She buried her face into Gray's chest.

"But you know what?" Gray asked.

"What?"

"If Lisanna were here now, she'd be kicking our asses for thinking we can't marry each other because of her."

"If Lisanna were here, we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"Details, details," Gray said. "You've always been one for that kind of thing."

He smiled, and put his forehead to Juvia's.

"But I'm right, aren't I?"

Juvia kept quiet for a second, enjoying the feel of Gray's hair on her forehead. Lisanna smiling, tilting her head, glaring, and then saying…_Be happy, already, all right Juvia? It annoys me how you're so hesitant about dating Gray! Because of me, you say? What!? I don't like Gray in any way at all! I like NATSU. NATSU. Natsu, as in that salmon-haired, dense idiot?_

Juvia flushed at the memory. The time when she had believed Lisanna liked Gray…so she had tried her best to ignore her own feelings for the boy so she would not betray her friend. How wrong she had been…

And how wrong she could be now…

Lisanna had always HATED her hesitancy, especially if the source of her hesitancy was caused by Lisanna herself.

_Oh, would you STOP making me the root of all your problems, Juvia? I am not the bitch you all make me out to be. Be happy Juvia! Stop worrying abut me, all right? For once, could you grant yourself your own happiness before you start worrying about others?_

Lisanna wasn't a hypocrite. She partly paid attention to what she needed and mainly paid attention to what others needed. Juvia missed her. she really did. She missed the white-haired girl's constant scoldings, and lectures, her mischievous smile, her schemes to make Natsu blush, and her habit of blushing whenever Natsu did something spectacularly, romantically unexpected.

_All right, Juvia! Operation: Juvia's Happiness is STARTING!_

_Oh, Juvia...I wish you would stop including me in all of your "Gray Fantasies"._

_Would just go for it, already?!_

The world didn't need a broken promise.

"Erza," Juvia said.

"Hm?"

"You, me, double wedding, got it?"

"O-okay."

Juvia smiled.

_I got Erza to agree to it, Lisanna…just like I promised…right? And a double wedding's going to happen, right? I'm sorry that it wasn't you…I'm sorry, I'm sorry…but you hated people apologizing to you right? I'm sorry for that, too._

Gray moved in to kiss the blunette.

"Lisanna would have been ecstatic," Natsu said, smiling.

"She really likes meddling in people's love stories more than she liked attending to hers, huh?" Lucy said, and turned to Natsu, smiling.

The salmon-haired boy flushed.

"I mean, s-s-sorr-!"

"Nah, it's true."

Luce smiled again.

For some reason, her smile just got to Natsu in a way he couldn't quite describe.

* * *

**And that marks the conclusion of this chapter! Sorry if this chapter wasn't as good as the other 'confessions'! I was RESOLVED and DETERMINED to finish this chapter and update this story TODAY! And I succeeded! whoopie!**

**Sorry if Lisanna seemed nasty towards Juvia, but I didn't mean for her to be. I wanted to show Lisanna encouraging Juvia to achieve her happiness even if Lisanna might be interfering in some way. **

**Next confession is from...who? **

**The one and only...**

**JELLAL FERNANDEZ! (Hopefully, I spelled his last name correctly right there)**

**Next time,**

**"Confessions in Blue"**

**Erza gives a call to her boyfriend, Jellal, to come over to Natsu's house for a celebration of Gray and Juvia's engagement, but he doesn't seem to be answering...is it just a case of him being away from his phone, or is it something more dire?!**

**Once again, I'm very sorry about the late update!**

**Next stop, That Unrequited Childhood Love!**

**Hopefully, TUCL will be updated tomorrow or the day after tomorrow...**


	9. Chapter 9: Confessions in Blue

**I finally updated MAB! Yay! Short, I know, but at least it has a new chapter? :D**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Fairy Tail**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Confessions in Blue**

"Hip, hip hooray!" Gray cried as he seated himself at his dining room table with Natsu across from him, Juvia next to him, Lucy standing beside Natsu, and Erza off to the side.

"Celebrating for Gray and Juvia's engagement!" Natsu agreed.

The black-haired man reached for the bottle of sake in the center of the table. The redheaded doctor stopped him by pinning down his hand.

"Could you wait until I call Jellal and get him over here too? And you don't GET sake GRAY! Not after your drinking spree last night!"

The man retaliated and pouted; Juvia pat his head, but glared at him as he again tried to get the bottle of alcohol. Natsu sniggered behind his hand, and pretended to not be paying attention as Erza shot him a warning look. Lucy laid a hand on his shoulder, and opened her mouth to scold the salmon-headed man on his never ending antics that would never allow him to heal when Erza picked up her cellular and dialed in a number.

The blonde looked longingly at the touch-screen phone. "I can't afford one of those."

"Really?"

"The wages I receive for being a nurse-"

Natsu glanced at her with a troubled look.

Lucy gave him a tiny smile. "…YOUR nurse…are mostly used for my monthly rental bills for my apartment."

"Oh."

Before the conversation could continue, Erza pulled the cell away from her ear with a frown plastered on her face. "That's strange…he's not picking up."

"Maybe he's busy with work?"

Natsu leaned towards Lucy and whispered, "Jellal's a chiropractor."

Erza shook her head. "Maybe…but he told me he only had two appointments today…both in the morning…"

"Maybe he's at home taking a shower?"

"He doesn't take showers until after he's eaten dinner."

"Maybe he's already eaten?"

"Jellal doesn't eat unless I make dinner and tell him to-"

Erza stopped, and whispered, "He doesn't eat unless I tell him to."

Gray paused in his attempt to take the sake bottle again, and looked up at his scarlet-haired friend, "You don't think…"

"I don't know, Gray. But we need to go to his house…NOW."

"What's going on?" Natsu asked, jumping with concern written on his face. His muscles had all tensed up.

"I don't yet, Natsu," Erza muttered, "but let's just hope it's nothing."

"Jellal!" Erza called as she took the house key and fumbled with unlocking the door. "Jellal!"

She dropped the key as the door gave way, and rushed inside. Quickly, she flicked on all the lights, and shivered at the coldness of the house. Panic-stricken, she looked around, and ran into all of the rooms, calling for her boyfriend relentlessly. Natsu ducked into what he knew was his blue-haired friend's room, and Lucy followed him, clutching to the back of his shirt, and reveling in the salmon-haired boy's warmth as the eeriness of the house got to her.

"Luce, could you not do that?" he asked her.

"Huh?" the blonde said, before realizing that he was agitated by her clinging to him. She immediately let go, and flushed.

"S-sorry…"

"Turn on the lights. I think there's something next to the bed…"

The nurse obediently listened, and groped the wall for the light switch. When she found it, and pushed the switch so that it changed to ON, she heard a sharp gasp from Natsu. Worriedly, she turned to him, and was about to ask, "Are you okay?" and stopped dead.

Because right next to the nightstand, the blue-haired man they were all searching for was on the ground, unconscious, with a steady stream of blood flowing from a nasty gash on his forehead. On the little table beside his bed, there was a mark of blood where he had apparently hit his head.

"JELLAL!" Natsu screamed, and ran to his friend's side. Erza's heavy footsteps trundled in, and she made a strangled noise when she laid her eyes on her boyfriend. The redhead immediately dropped to his side, and shouted to Lucy, "Heartfilia-kun! Call the hospital now!"

The blonde nodded, muttered a quick, "Yes, Doctor," and hurried off despite her shock, and pushed past the shocked Gray and the mortified Juvia. Natsu watched in horror as his friend checked the man's pulse, and finally took a nearby shirt to clot the stream of blood.

A few minutes later, everyone tensed up as they heard the telltale sirens of the ambulance rushing to their aid.

* * *

"How could I let this happen?" Erza moaned from her seat inside Jellal's room. He was still unconscious, but his wound had been wrapped up, and he had been deemed "okay" by the doctors who had gathered around. Doctor Eucliffe stood off to the side, making a few notes on his clipboard, while Doctor Cheney turned to the grief-stricken head doctor.

"It's not your fault, Doctor Scarlet," he assured her.

"Just a case of malnutrition, is all…he hasn't been eating much, has he?" Eucliffe sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"It is my fault! I'm the one who's supposed to check on his eating! I completely forgot about it today-!"

"That was our fault," Natsu piped up. "We were making a…couple of scenes…"

"Well," Sting said, "I'm glad you're finally pushing this…incident…out of the way…but you may need to talk to your friend about it some more, okay? It'll be dangerous if he ends up like this again. He might hit his head on something harder and end up with something more serious. You're lucky you found him before he lost too much blood."

"Additionally, the lack of food cannot be good for his stomach and health. Not eating may lead to serious problems," Rogue added, crossing his arms. "And Mr. Fullbuster, I do hope you are regulating your intake of alcoholic beverages?"

Gray looked up from his lap, and said, "Um…since today I have…."

"Might I remind you that your severe problem with those kinds of drinks may lead to illnesses?"

"Hey…Rogue-y…I'm done with that kind of stuff, now, okay? No more. I don't want to make anyone worry about me, anymore."

"And I see that you have finally decided to throw yourself into the stream of life, once again, Mr. Dragneel," Eucliffe said, turning on the salmon-haired man. "You appear to be well…good job, Heartfilia-kun."

"Thank you, sir…I mean Doctor! I mean…sir Doctor?"

The blonde man faced Erza, "Doctor Scarlet…as your fellow co-worker…I advise you not to be so hard on yourself for this, okay? I will take your other appointments for now, but you will be expected to work tomorrow."

The scarlet-haired woman only gave a slight nod for her answer, and didn't look up as her two colleagues left. Natsu's brow creased as he watched sparkling tears fall from the woman's eyes.

"C'mon, Erza, it's not your fault…"

"It is…and nothing can change that."

"Okay, so it is your fault," Gray said, and ignored the murderous glare he received from Juvia. He was not making a very good impression for his new fiancé. "You didn't remind Jellal to eat, so everything is your fault."

"Thank you, Fullbuster!" Erza said exasperatedly, looking up, and gazing at him gratefully.

"But it's our fault, too," he added, and winced at the groan from his friend. "My alcoholism…"

"My refusal to Gray's proposal…" Juvia said.

"They were what made you forget."

"But still!" Erza said, standing up, and gazing at her boyfriend. His hand twitched, and everyone froze as his eye fluttered open. For a moment, no one said anything, and the blue-haired man was the first to speak.

"Where am I?"

"The hospital," the redhead replied in a tight voice, and Jellal immediately looked at her face. "You fainted from malnutrition, and hit your head on the nightstand."

Jellal sat up, ignoring the protests he received from Lucy, and said, "Sh*t, I knew I had been forgetting something."

"Forgetting something!?" Erza said in a high-pitched tone. "Jellal! Forgetting to eat could result in something very dire! Don't act like it's on par with forgetting to do your homework, or something!"

The redhead slumped into the chair again, "It's all my fault I didn't remind you!"

"Technically, it was our fault she didn't get to remind you," Gray pointed out hesitantly, and fell silent when the scarlet-haired woman gave him a sharp glare.

"Technically, it's nobody's fault I don't eat," the blue-headed boy whispered, falling back onto his pillow. "It's mine…"

"Let me guess," Natsu said quietly, crossing his arms across his chest, "It has to do with Lisanna, doesn't it?"

Jellal made a face, and glanced up at his friends, who made no move to avoid his gaze. "After she died…I…I tried to stay calm by burying myself in work. When that didn't work, I drowned myself in it…I discovered that if I was worrying about my next appointment or the paperwork I had to do…I forgot about her absence. That's why I ordered my secretary to leave some of her paperwork to me…because I didn't want the amount of stuff I had to do to dwindle down to nothing."

He rubbed his face in exhaustion. "The only things I remembered to do aside from my job were…taking showers and sleeping…I guess…except I didn't do the latter very well either."

"That's stupid…." Natsu said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"I said…that's stupid. To sacrifice your own health and social life in order to forget about her…you're just burdening Lisanna!"

"I-!"

"She would be disgusted with herself for letting you succumb to this just because of her! Do you really want to down something that would make Lisanna hate herself?!"

"I…" Jellal began, but fell silent.

"Just because she's dead, you think you can just go ahead and do things that'll make her feel bad if she was still here…you think you can burden her with the facts that you've overworked yourself to a point beyond exhaustion and fainted due to your lack of food…! She's turning in her grave now because of you – no, because of all of us! We've let ourselves fall to rock bottom just because she's been taken out of our lives. We've let ourselves travel to a point worthy of pity and sympathy…a point where everything we've done…drinking…losing sleep…becoming ill…rejecting proposals…becoming a recluse….all become burdens for Lisanna Strauss!"

Gray let his head fall, and Juvia looked down at her hands. Erza clutched her forehead, and Jellal let himself cry for the first time in months.

"We all miss her…" Natsu said, "but does that give us the right to make Lisanna Strauss feel bad in Heaven?"

Jellal's sobs were the only sound that filled the room for a moment. Finally, a nurse came into the room, carrying a tray with a bowl of oatmeal. She looked frantically around the room at the stone-cold faces. "Is this a bad time?"

"No," Jellal said, wiping his face off, and extending his hand, "I need to eat."

He permitted himself to shoot a smile at Erza before he spooned a blob of tasteless oatmeal into his mouth.

* * *

**I know this was a very short chapter, but Jellal's a sensible guy, right?**

**:D Hope you review!**

**Now that the "Confessions" arc is over, there will be NaLu moments to come!**

**Hope you're prepared!**

**Until next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10: Realization! or not

**I've finally updated this story! As I promised, since the 'Confessions' Arc is over, I will now focus on NaLu, but that doesn't mean I won't have Erza, Jellal, Juvia, and Gray come in...maybe I should write some chapters about them, too?**

**Well, hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Fairy Tail!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Realization! …or not…**

Natsu's face twitched, and then he drummed his fingers on the windowsill, and then he sighed. Finally, he looked out the window again, rested his chin on his right hand, and muttered almost inaudibly, "She's late."

Gray, who was sitting at the kitchen table, eating last night's leftovers, said through a mouthful of cold lasagna, "Ooooh, so that's why you're so morose, today!"

"Hmm?"

"Because your one and only true love Lucy Heartfilia is late in coming to your house."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you dense, or are you dense?" Gray snapped, swallowing a mouthful of pasta and sauce. "You love her, don't you?"

"Luce? Me? In love with her?" Natsu asked incredulously, and broke into fits of laughter. "You've got to be kidding, Gray."

"Say what you want, but you're obviously holding some feelings towards her," he said in a singsong voice and shoveled a forkful of food into his mouth. "Hey, do you have any liquor?"

"If I HAVE to remind you one more time…" Natsu started hotly, but then controlled his temper. "Rogue told you to go easy on that stuff, remember?"

"What? Oh, did I ask for alcohol again? Sorry. Bad habit. I meant water."

"Some in the refrigerator, then."

"Thanks."

"And let's get this in order… I do not like Lucy…in that way."

"Of course not," Gray replied from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Thank you."

"You love her in that way."

Natsu fought the urge to hurtle into the kitchen and tackle his friend down.

"Why are all of you guys so keen on matching me up with Luce anyways?"

"Because it's so obvious you like her. Everyone sees it, that is, everyone except you. C'mon, Natsu, you've got to find someone else you can love – in that way – before you live out the rest of your life alone. You're right there in your chair, pining about Lucy's absence as we speak, and you really don't think you're in love with her?"

"I've just grown used to her presence here, is all," Natsu muttered back, and turned on his T.V. The tinny sound of the voices on the show that appeared resounded in the living room. "I mean…she is my nurse after all."

"You've been getting better, though," his friend answered, still insistent on continuing this subject. Natsu considered slipping outside without Gray noticing, but decided against it when he saw how cold it was outside. Winter was drawing near, and the sharp scent of it lingered in the air and wind. "Who knows? Luce might get assigned to some other patient."

"You call her Lucy, I call her Luce!" Natsu snapped. For some reason, he grew sour whenever someone else used the special nickname he had given to the blonde. "And she's a nurse, like I said. She's SUPPOSED to tend to other patients…I'm not the only one who's supposed to get the…nursing…around here."

"But something tells me you're going to MISS her!~" Gray sang, and ducked when Natsu threw a decorative pillow at him. It was one of the many things Luce had bought for him over the weeks she had been with him. There were also new cups and plates in the dishwasher, and even several tubes of toothpaste in the hallway closet just in case he ran out. She had also come in once saying that she had seen this cool jacket that would "JUST look AWESOME on you!", but she had fallen silent when Natsu had jokingly told her she wasn't his mother, and he was completely capable of purchasing his own clothes.

"Well, that's a definite thing," Natsu replied, "but I'll only miss her because she's…a…best friend of some sort."

"Best friend? Or best candidate to be Natsu Dragneel's next GIRLfriend?"

"Gray, shouldn't you be finding a job?"

"I'll be entering college to become a dental assistant."

"That's good."

"Anyways, back on topic…"

"No!"

* * *

Lucy stood patiently as Doctor Eucliffe tended to the patient before her. He was lecturing her and five other new nurses what to do when a situation came up like this. Despite his handsome and slightly cold appearance, he was a man of many words. When he got immersed into a lesson such as this, he couldn't stop talking.

The blonde paid close attention to what he was saying, of course, but a small part of her was going, "Natsu! Natsu! I need to get to Natsu!"

When Dr. Eucliffe was done at last, she hurried out of the room, but not before Dr. Cheney got a hold of her. He grabbed onto her arm, and said, "Oh, Heartfilia – kun…"

"Ah, yes…um, Doctor, sir?"

She smiled to hide her impatience.

"Ah…yes, I'm not bothering you, am I? I understand you need to tend to Mr. Dragneel, as well…but I've just received word from Head Doctor Scarlet that in the last checkup he got here…two weeks, ago, was it? (A/N: it's been about a month and a half, or two months since Jellal's collapse) He's been showing signs that he's slowly getting better. Because of this, you won't need to spend so much time with him…and ah, there will be another nurse tending to him, also."

"There will?" Lucy asked, trying to restrain the disappointment that dripped into her voice.

"Yes, because I've received the message to tell you that you will be spending some time working with McGarden- kun with a patient that has recently been in a car accident…Room 501, I believe? You are required to go there, now. I will send Nurse Sue Phalord (A/N: Sue, from Phantom Lord, doesn't have a last name, so I thought I'd give her one by combining the guild's name) to Mr. Dragneel's home immediately," Doctor Cheney looked down at his clipboard. "Today, you will tend to the patient in Room 501, and once this week is over, you'll tend to Mr. Dragneel. Then the week after THAT, you will tend to Room 501, and the once that week is over, you will tend to Mr. Dragneel again. Get it? You are alternating between the two patients. Once 501's patient leaves, you will be assigned another patient in this hospital and be alternating between him or her and Dragneel. Sound good?"

No. But there was no way Lucy was going to defy the daughters of someone of a higher caliber than hers. The blonde, throwing her shoulders back forcibly now, and thoroughly convinced she was going to be in a rather foul mood after her shift, nodded.

"I…it sounds good, Doctor Cheney. I'll be on my way to Room 501, now…may I ask the for the patient's name in that room?"

"Um…I believe his last name is Celeste. I can't quite recall his first. He's not someone who I tended to. Sting – er, I mean Doctor, Eucliffe was put in charge of his injuries, I believe. Nothing too serious, but he does have to stay here for at least…two weeks or so? Some broken bones, he scraped the side of his face…but we just want to keep him here to see if he's all good…"

"Okay, sir, I mean…Doctor…sir…"

"Off you go then."

"Yes, um, thank you, Doctor Cheney."

"No problem, Heartfilia-kun. I'll talk to Phalord – kun, right now."

The blonde watched his back for a moment as he strode away, and then made her way towards Room 501 glumly. She had wanted to see Natsu today because she had wanted to show him the hat she had bought for him. Just recently, his dad had come to visit him and had presented him with a striped scarf that Natsu loved to wear. He proclaimed that was because it was comfortable, but the blonde suspected it was because he was ecstatic about meeting his dad again after a very long stretch of time.

Lucy waltzed into the room she was assigned to, and caught sight of Levy – or McGarden – kun – and gave the blunette a wide smile. This petite, little nurse was one of her best friends in this hospital, and was the reason why Lucy had come to fully accept her feelings for Natsu at last.

The blonde had confessed to Levy weeks before that whenever she saw Natsu smile, or laugh, or even if his arm barely touched hers, she'd feel this wrenching in her heart. Levy, fully entranced by this love story, had said in poetic lines of speech that "Lu-chan" as the miniature girl liked to call her, was definitely in L-O-V-E with the dear Natsu Dragneel.

At first Lucy had denied Levy's diagnosis, saying it was ridiculous, and absolutely crazy and insensitive to fall for a man who she was nursing because his girlfriend had died in the war. But, after time had passed, Lucy slowly became more aware of Natsu looking at her, saying her nickname, and even laughing at her slightly, cheesy jokes. One day, she had come to the hospital and had dropped before Levy's feet in total defeat.

'I'm in love with him. You were right.'

After that, she hadn't seen the blunette again, let alone talked to her…until now. The blonde's whole face reddened when she remembered what had passed between them the last time they had talked to each other, and cleared her throat considerably loud.

"Er, hi…Doctor Cheney's assigned me to here…"

"Well, hullo there," said a low voice from the hospital bed. The blonde turned to see an orange-haired man wearing tinted glasses staring flirtatiously up at her. His eyelids drooped, his lips were pulled back, and he brushed his hair back with his unbroken hand as he surveyed her up and down. Lucy suppressed a shudder, and debated whether or not she should shake this guy's hand. The proper protocol seemed to scold her, and she smiled forcibly.

"Hello…Mister…" she glanced at the clipboard at the foot of his bed. "…Celeste…I'm one of your new nurses who will be working alongside Le – ah, McGarden –san. My name is Lucy Heartflia…nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," he said back, even though Lucy's introduction hadn't even contained the word 'pleasure'. "My name is Loke Celeste, and please, call me Loke."

"Ahahaha," Lucy replied, and a quick turn to pretend that she was fixing a vase full of flowers allowed her to see Levy's grimace. That meant the blunette had decided against using the first name of this rather strange patient.

"Please, please, Mr. Celeste, formalities are what we need here in this hospital…"

"Of course, of course…Levy –chan has told me that as well."

"That's Miss McGarden, to you," the blunette said stiffly, and ruffled her hair. "Lu – I mean, Heartfilia – san…I've got everything in control here. Why don't you go tend to Mr. Dragneel?"

"Who's he?" Loke demanded.

"Doctor Cheney has already sent Phalord- san there…"

"Sue?! I mean, of course, Phalord – san…that's very good, then…um…please come with me, I'd like some help with bringing Mr. Celeste his lunch…"

"Oh, that's quite all right-"

"You haven't eaten yet," Levy interrupted, and dragged the blonde out of the room.

"Lu – chan," Levy said, once they were outside the room. "Do – you – know – how –serious- this – is?"

"Uh…what?"

"Apparently not!" the blunette said in exasperation. Levy led the way to the cafeteria, and Lucy fell into step beside her. "Look, here me out, here okay?"

"I'm listening."

"Sue is in love with Natsu."

"What? That ridic-!"

"You've never seen that look she gets on her face when he comes here for a checkup. She makes this super thoughtful expression, and keeps staring at him as if her life depends on it!"

"But she's never even talked to him."

"Sometimes, Lu-chan, you don't have to talk to someone to fall in love with him."

The blonde bit her bottom lip. "I'll…well, there's nothing we can do now, is there? I won't be able to see him until this week is over."

"Oh, sweet, naïve Lu-chan," Levy sighed. "You know where he lives, don't you? Just go visit him."

"But, er…" Lucy stammered, "Wouldn't th-that be a little weird?"

"Weird? Come ON, you guys are like besties now, aren't you?"

The blonde sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll go meet him after I'm off from work."

* * *

"Who the hell is that?" Natsu asked, practically smothering his face on the window pane.

Gray was next to him, watching as a thin girl with caramel-colored skin, green hair, and a slightly nervous expression on her face made her way down the path to Natsu's front door.

"She's wearing a nurse's uniform…you think she might be from the hospital?"

"How is that even possible? Luce is the one who's my nurse…why would they send someone else?"

Gray sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, and saying, "Oh, separation in love…what a painful thing…that's what Juvia would say."

Natsu glared at his friend, and snapped, "Oh, shut UP!"

A knock came from the front door.

"Hey, is this what it was like when Lucy first came here?"

"Almost. I was a lot more scared, and this house was a lot grosser then."

Gray crowded him from behind as the salmon-haired boy opened the door. The woman on the porch bit her lip nervously, and gave a short little wave.

"Uh..h…" she began, but her voice quieted near the end, so she had to begin again, "I mean…hi…my name's Sue Phalord? I'm your new nurse? Well, not really a new nurse? Just stepping in for Heartfilia-san for now?"

"Oh, really?" Natsu replied, and mentally slapped himself. This girl's way of talking was kind of contagious. "Um…Luce…uh, I mean, Heartfilia…where is she?"

"Tending to another patient-"

"Ha!" Gray said, snapping his fingers and driving his index finger into Natsu's chest with a triumphant smile. "What did I tell ya?"

Natsu ignored the black-haired man as he clutched onto the doorknob. "Uh…well…come in…"

He was really bad at inviting people into his home, he realized. With Lucy, he had been reluctant in letting her in.

And now, he was still reluctant. Sue – he really was never one for last names and honorifics – stepped inside, and surveyed the room she was standing in. She looked at the cracked window to her side. Natsu scratched the back of his neck. He and Luce had discussed about getting fixed very often. They had searched everywhere for the ball that had broken in, but couldn't seem to find it.

"Aren't you-?"

"…going to fix that?" he finished. "Well…I'm working on it."

He smiled weakly as the memories of his and the blonde's discussions came back to him.

_"Natsu…aren't you going fix the window?"_

_ "I'm working on it, Luce."_

_ "Mmmhmm?"_

_ "And I'll work on it a whole lot faster once you stop NAGGING me."_

_ "Natsu Dragneel…you better get that fixed the next time I come here."_

_ "You sound like such a mom."_

_ "Ugh…"_

He watched as the girl made her way around the entire room, surveying the pillows and couches. She even picked up a picture in a frame on a sorry looking shelf.

"Are you done, inspector?" Natsu asked, "Or are you going to interrogate me, as well?"

She put down the photograph, blushed, and muttered a tiny apology. Finally, she clasped her hands together, and mumbled something incomprehensible.

"Sorry?" the salmon-haired man asked, crossing his arms. He was starting to feel irritable. Gray elbowed him in the side, and Natsu shot him a glare before he devoted his attention to Sue again.

"I SAID," she began again, sounding a little steamed herself. Her eyebrows furrowed together, but her cheeks were still aflame. "Would you like something to EAT? Or are you not HUNGRY?"

Gray slung an arm around his friend before he could say no to the wonderful offer being given to them. "Yeah, we're hungry. Poor Natsu hasn't eaten this ENTIRE morning."

"Only because someone keeps coming and raiding my pantry, and you've already eaten last night's-!"

"Oh, Natsu…" Gray interrupted with a laugh, and said with a little too much gusto, "There's a piece of rice on your cheek….here, let me get it OFF for you."

"How would I have rice on my mouth when I haven't eaten anything y-?!"

He was cut off as Gray's thumb and index finger pinched his right cheek and pulled.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Gray whispered fiercely, before letting go.

Natsu rubbed his cheek sourly, and resigned himself to sitting moodily before the television set. He also didn't want to admit that the curry Sue cooked up was delicious when she had finished making it about two hours later.

* * *

Sue and Gray had finally left. So, Natsu retired to the bathroom, where he had concluded to go take a shower. However, just as he was stepping into the shower, loud knocks on his door resounded. He pursed his lips. Damn. Gray must be back. He probably forgot something….would be the excuse he would give just so that he could get some more food or whatever. It was amazing that he managed to stay in shape with all the devouring he did. Sighing, Natsu wrapped a towel around his waist, and walked to the front door. He threw it open, and looked outside, expecting to see Gray's stupid, mischievous face out there. Instead, all he got were brown eyes, blonde hair, which all belonged to a VERY bewildered Luce.

"Natsu!?" she said, barely controlling her voice so that it didn't rise to a shriek. "WHAT are you DOING?!"

"I – I'm sorry," he stammered, and he felt his face heating up. Luce was HERE. Luce was HERE. She was here, she was here, she was-

"I thought you were Gray!"

"Just…UGH!" she sighed in frustration, and covered her eyes. "Can I come in?"

"Y-yeah."

He let her in. She kept her face covered, and he cleared his throat.

"I'm just going to take a show-"

"Just GO, Natsu!"

"R-right."

* * *

Lucy tried to get a grip on herself after Natsu had left. She listened as the telltale gush of water came from the bathroom, and sank into a squishy armchair in exhaustion. Her heart must be beating a million times per second; she placed her right hand over the left part of her chest, and breathed deeply as her heart rate calmed. When she finally felt at ease, she leaned back in the chair, and pushed her hand through her hair. There was a quiet in the house – the sound of running water because of Natsu's shower was surprisingly easy to shut out – that put her at peace. She pressed her hands to her cheeks, and rubbed them together. It sure was getting cold. She sniffed the air. There was that sharp scent of winter, and since she was in Natsu's home, a bit of his aroma mixed in with the cold, sharp scent of wintery air.

The blonde got up, and waltzed over to the broken window, and placed her finger on a sharp, shattered piece that stuck haphazardly up.

"Luce? What are you doing?"

She jumped, and her finger slipped. A sharp pain ripped through her right index finger, and she yelped suddenly.

"Lucy? Are you okay?" Natsu asked, his voice full of concern. She hadn't even noticed that he had emerged from the bathroom. His hair was slightly damp, and there was a towel around his shoulder.

"I- I'm fine," she said, but her voice quavered. She dropped to the floor. Natsu squatted down as well, and took a hold of her right hand. He paled at the sight of the blood, and a drop or two of sweat appeared along his brow. He took a deep breath, and said, "I think it's going to be okay."

"I know it is," Lucy said testily. "I'm a nurse, remember, Natsu?"

He gave a short laugh, and suddenly, he put her injured finger in his mouth. She jerked her hand back instinctively, and the finger was ripped out of his mouth.

"What-?" he began to ask, but his mind caught up with his behavior.

"Oh…uh…sorry."

His ears and face were red, as he looked away.

"It's…it's okay…" she replied back softly, and looked at the spot next to his shoulder.

Which was the floor.

Warm. The inside of his mouth had been warm.

She was about to stand up, when she saw something that caught her eye.

"Hey…"

The blonde crawled over to a little drawer that held a number of junk mail and unread brochures. She put her left hand under it, and felt along the dusty floor. Her hand closed around something, and she withdrew the object.

"The ball!" she exclaimed. "Natsu, I thought you said you checked the whole living ro-!"

She turned abruptly around to rant on his carelessness, but stopped immediately when she saw Natsu was crouching right behind her. His face was not just millimeters from hers.

"You thought I what?" he said quietly. His breath was warm on her face, but that could have just been the heat due to all the blood that was rushing up to her cheeks. She could feel her instinct to jump away tugging at her, but her legs had completely frozen up. Her instinct couldn't thaw the freezing effect Natsu's sudden close proximity had caused her. He didn't pull away either. His onyx eyes were searching her face for something…she didn't know what.

He was handsome, she gave him that. Probably popular in his school days…

Natsu couldn't help but be entranced by the blonde. Luce was super pretty. She resembled those cheerleaders on those stupid, cliché high school movies, but she was a whole lot nicer, funnier, and smarter…

Lucy couldn't move. What should she say?

"Natsu, I-"

Her heart pumped louder as he leaned in. For a wonderful, yet scary moment, she thought he was going to kiss her again. But he stopped just a little away from her lips, and picked up her hand.

"It's bleeding again," he said gruffly. "I'll go get some bandages."

He stood up, and the blonde fell back onto her bottom. Her legs were now sore from crouching too long. Natsu walked away to find his first aid kit, which Lucy had cleverly stored in the kitchen in a conspicuous area. She covered her mouth with her hand , and tried contain her overflowing feelings. She wanted to cry in pain. She wanted to laugh in joy. She wanted to sigh in disappointment. Her emotions were conflicting with each other.

Natsu came back into the room, and they were silent as he unwrapped the band-aid, and stuck in around her finger. His hair had almost dried. When he was done, all they did was just sit there. Lucy felt uncomfortable.

Natsu…he felt lost.

Was Gray right? Did he really, really love Luce in that way?

He wanted to cry out in frustration, but he didn't. In the end – without thinking – he put his forehead on her shoulder so that he was looking down at the floor. Luce tensed up, and stiffened even more when he grabbed her right hand in his left. They stayed like that for a while, crouching, with Natsu laying his head on the blonde's shoulder, and her hand in his.

Finally, quietly, almost inaudibly, he whispered, "I don't know what to do, Luce."

Lucy wanted to ask him.

"You don't know what to do about what?"

But Natsu was already standing up. She felt suddenly cold without his presence there.

"I think you should go home," he said in a monotonous voice. The blonde got to her feet, nodded jerkily, and without a word, she strode out the door.

Meanwhile, the salmon-haired man went to his kitchen table, and sat in a chair. For hours on end, he just sat there with his head in his hands.

* * *

**I was going to have Natsu and Lucy kiss...but then I was like, "Naw...can't have too much NaLu already!"**

**And it seemed a little too soon for that?**

**Anyways, hope you liked this chapter!**

**Please review!**

**Until next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11: Oh My MavisI-!

**Hey! I realize it has been a while since I updated this story! I'm truly sorry for that! I think I'm going to update Love Square Boy after this one...though I'm not entirely sure...**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Fairy Tail!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Oh My Mavis…I -!?**

Natsu stalked into the hospital, his mood dark and gloomy. He couldn't stand this rotating schedule that Lucy and Sue shared. He hated having to wait for every other week just to see Luce, and he hated the fact that Lucy kept being assigned to MALE patients. Of course, it wasn't because he LOVED her, as Juvia kept saying; it was merely because he had gotten so used to the fact that he – until recently – had been the only guy she had taken care of ever since her job as a nurse had started. He liked being unique.

_I mean…what the hell?! _ he thought, _Aren't there female patients that need the close care of nurses, too?!_

But what had really gotten under his skin was that ever since that stupid incident where he had almost KISSED her…things had really been awkward between them. She would still bring a lot of purchases home – this week, a vase that had cherry blossoms painted all over it – but they would hardly discuss over the thing she bought. It seemed as if the blonde had tried to stop talking to him altogether, except for the occasional, "Your medicine" or "Here's your food".

Sue was a mystery; she rarely talked about herself, but it seemed that she couldn't stop talking about other things. Blah, blah, blah this, blah, blah, blah horse race, blah, blah, blah animals, blah, blah, blah movies…it gave him a headache. At least with Luce – who wasn't quiet either –topics of conversation had an actual purpose…and he could at least input something. What was he even supposed to add into a conversation about the latest trends of boots and short shorts? Once, the girl had asked him what was it like being the war. His first thought was that she was extremely insensitive, and when he had answered in irritation, "I don't know…it felt like being in the war?", Sue had taken his answer very seriously, and had begun to talk about the First and Second World Wars, and then had somehow backtracked all the way to the Civil War. She began to converse about the first rifles, and ironclads with such passion that Natsu couldn't even tell her to shut up about it.

When they weren't talking about the Confederacy and the Union, she was going around cleaning everything off, claiming that there was SO much dust on everything. Natsu doubted that. Luce had just dusted everything just the other day. He suspected that Sue did it just so that she could peer at the photographs she was cleaning. For some reason, Sue's nosiness irritated him a lot more than Luce's nosiness did. At least with the blonde, he could tell her no, and then she'd pout cutely without her feelings getting hurt. But as insensitive as Sue might have seemed, she was actually very touchy when her feelings were hurt. She'd give him the silent treatment…which wasn't half-bad actually…

But anyways, it was the day he had to get his usual check-up. It was kind of relaxing actually. He had to go to this psychiatrist – who always seemed to manage to grumble about working in a general hospital instead of a specialty hospital – who asked him lots of questions which he would answer lazily. Natsu's favorite part about the whole affair was getting to lie in that comfortable chair. Once, he had almost fallen asleep in the air-conditioned room as Dr. Song asked him, "So…how are you feeling lately, Natsu?"

Natsu rubbed the bridge of his nose as he entered the psychiatrist's waiting room, and sat down wearily. At least today, he could avoid a few hours of Sue telling him about her co-workers' gossip. Right now, she was at his home (Gray had assisted him to the hospital, and he sped off exclaiming that he was late for his class – Natsu supposed he had to call…Juvia…to pick him up when he was finished with this appointment) now, probably cleaning the entire house, and making something for dinner. He had been rather hesitant about leaving her alone in his house for a few hours; very, very carefully, he had told her in a serious, emphasizing tone to not – no matter what – go into _that _room in the hallway, okay? That one right there, do not – I repeat – do NOT go in there. If I come home, and see that that room has been disturbed…I will rage.

He blinked as he heard a loud smacking noise from somewhere in front of him. He cast a wary eye over to the source, and met the eye of a woman who was looking very nervous. She was chewing quickly on a piece of gum as she bounced her leg up and down. Her fingers fumbled with the ends of her lacy skirt as she looked around the whole room. Her hair was dyed a bright, neon green – which, Natsu thought, was a color even weirder than pink…er…salmon – and she wore moderated amounts of make-up. Her eyelashes had been elongated by dark mascara, and her lips had been painted with dark red lipstick. Her skin was very pale – like a piece of chalk compared to Natsu's tanned skin – and her eyes had a look of severity as she looked around the room. As his gaze slipped over her, she made eye contact with him, and snapped, "What? Why are you looking at me?"

"I, uh," Natsu spluttered, and felt foolish as it appeared that the woman hadn't asked the question for an answer. Immediately after the query had spilled from her mouth, she directed her eyes somewhere else, and ignored Natsu like he was just a bug on the wall. He sighed, and scratched his head awkwardly. The door of the doctor's office opened, and Dr. Song popped his head out as he ushered out a scrawny looking kid out of the door. Then, he gestured for Natsu to come.

The salmon-haired man stood up, and stumbled on one of the table's legs as he strode over. The green-haired woman snickered at his less-than-graceful fumble, and quickly pretended she hadn't been paying attention when he looked back to stare at her. Dr. Song grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him in; when they were safely inside the office, and the psychiatrist had polished off his glasses, he gave Natsu an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, Natsu. That's Karen…she's got a few problems of her own, and she can't help herself."

"That's alright, Doc…what's her problem?"

"Confidential," he replied snippily, and gestured for his patient to sit down in the faded green chair like always. The psychiatrist took a seat in his own chair, and flipped through the papers stuck to his clipboard for a while before he sighed, grumbled, "I should be working in a specialty hospital, not a general one", and then crossed one leg over the other as he contemplated the supine Natsu with a faux look that said, "I want to talk to you." Dr. Song smiled, as rubbed his bald head, spun his pen in his right hand, and finally opened his mouth to say, "So how have you been lately, Natsu?"

"The same," he replied in a tone that fully expressed how bored her felt. Natsu ran his hand through his salmon locks as the doctor arched an eyebrow, stabbed his clipboard with his pen – the pen didn't break through the slab of wood, but made a sharp 'thunk!' – and asked in a disbelieving tone, "Really?"

The psychiatrist always did this. It was supposed to be some kind of smart, strategic way of getting Natsu nervous, and spilling what he was hiding. However, Natsu had been here way too often to get tricked by that kind of thing anymore. But just as he opened his mouth to say "Yes", his tongue somehow fumbled, and he instead found himself replying, "No." The salmon-haired boy fell silent as he reviewed what he had just done in horror. Dr. Song looked surprised too, and he cleared his throat to regain his composure; he straightened out his beige-colored blazer as he leaned back in his chair – this seemed like it was going to take a while – and said, "Elaborate."

"Well," Natsu said, panicking. How was he supposed to 'elaborate' when he didn't even know why he had said 'no' in the first place? He chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about what kind of problems he had in his life now…talkative Sue, gives-everyone-a-headache Sue, Sue who takes care of him instead of Lucy, almost kissing Lu-

"I almost kissed a girl who I solely thought was my best friend," he answered at last. Right away, he wished he could just scoop up his words, ram them down his mouth, and swallow them.

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "And…? Why didn't you kiss her?"

"Well, because…she's my…best friend…it'd be wrong, wouldn't it?"

"Well…" Dr. Song said, dragging out the 'L' sound. "It's very common for a close friendship between a male and female to result in something more…actually, it's not strange for best friends to become a couple at all… it's actually expected in modern-day society…"

"Well, but, I mean…Luce…I mean that girl…she's not…" Natsu protested, and fell silent when he realized he was not formulating complete sentences.

"Natsu…are you sure there's not another reason why you're so against the idea of loving this girl?"

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows, and his eyes widened as he blurted out, "Because I feel like I'm cheating on Lisanna!"

"Please elaborate."

"Actually, cheating isn't what explains it, but…it feels wrong for me to date someone after Lisanna…she was my girlfriend after all, and now that she has passed away…I feel like it'd be very…incorrect…to start going out with someone else. I don't think…if Lisanna was here…I don't think it'd be right…"

"Well…think about it this way. This situation…what if Lisanna were still here? What if she was still alive and you still fell in love with this girl that you're talking about? What if Lisanna went on a long vacation without you and you fell in love with this other girl while she was gone? What would you have done then?"

Natsu covered his face as he contemplated the question. "I would have broken up with her. I would have broken up with Lisanna. To be with Luce."

He felt ashamed immediately after he said it. He groaned.

"Now, now, Natsu," Dr. Song said gently. This was the most progress he had ever made with a patient. "Now…what do you imagine Lisanna's reaction would have been?"

Natsu thought about that one for a long time. Lisanna's smile, her face, her kind demeanor – even though she had a funny way of showing it – her beauty, her character…

"She would have let me go. She would have told me to go and be happy. She would have stopped thinking about herself and would have thought about me instead. She would have let me be with Luce instead of keeping me to herself and…hurting me…"

"And how do you think she's reacting now that she's gone?"

"I…"

Natsu could almost hear her voice.

_Move on, already Natsu. Geez, you're practically bathing in the misery of my death. If you don't hurry up and get a new girl, I'm going to have to get Mira to help you…do you want that?_

"I…she wants me to move on…"

There was silence for a moment before Dr. Song said, "Is there another reason why you're scared of loving someone else Natsu?"

"What?"

"I said, 'Is there another reason why you're scared of loving someone else Natsu?'"

The salmon-haired man thought about that for a minute. "Because I'm scared of getting into another relationship…I'm scared of being left behind again…I'm scared of being hurt again…"

Dr. Song sighed in satisfaction. Now, to ease towards the solution, and help make this guy have a revelation…the doctor was quiet for a moment as he felt meaningful words swell up inside him and choke him with emotion. He held his hands together tightly as he began to speak freely – it was like that time where had proposed to wife and had let his emotions for her spill uncontrollably. No planned speech, no planning at all…just speak…

"Natsu…if you always reject something due to fear, who knows how much things in this world you'll miss? If you don't act now, and ask this Luce to become yours, one day, somebody's going to take her away from you. And then…you will suffer a much greater pain…grief and regret…which will follow you your whole life. 'Why didn't I ask her to be mine's when I had the chance?' Why didn't I tell her that I loved her when I had the chance? Why didn't I try to find out if she loved me back when I had the chance?" Dr. Song said seriously. "If you never try to love this girl without the brakes in your heart…who knows how much regret you're going to suffer from years from now? If you never try, if you never explore, how will you know how things would've turned out?"

The psychiatrist received no reply from his patient. Had he lost him during his speech?

"Natsu-"

"Crap," Natsu said, finally taking his hands away from his eyes. "I'm in love with Lucy."

* * *

**As you can see, I have utilized a cliffhanger just to irritate you guys...hahaha, I'm just kidding...hope you liked this chapter!**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**Until next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12: Idiot in Love

**Here it is! the next chapter of MAB! I know I left you guys with a horrible cilffhanger last time! **

**Disclaimer: I do Not Own Fairy Tail!**

**Just this plot...**

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**Chapter Twelve: Idiot in Love**

"Crap. I'm in love with Lucy."

Natsu sat up, and stared at Dr. Song for a few, long minutes. Finally, he asked slowly and carefully, "You won't tell her…right?"

"Of…of course not!" the man said, hiding his surprise at his patient's sudden declaration by scrawling something incomprehensible on the paper attached to his clipboard. His glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose, and he thrust it up. He smiled unnaturally. "People who come in here have the assurance that their sessions are completely confidential. No matter how…intriguing their sessions are."

Natsu averted his gaze. Intriguing? It was…very interesting…how Natsu had suddenly come to realize his feelings for the blonde. His heart pumped loudly in his chest; he needed to tell someone…anyone…except for the girl he loved. The salmon-haired man stood up, and rubbed his hands on his pants, as if he were trying to wipe away his thoughts.

"I need to go."

"Are you sure, Natsu? You look like you need to talk some more," Dr. Song said, leaning back in his chair. The psychiatrist also needed a lot more time to prepare himself to talk to Karen – she was a troubling one. She had the tendency to throw things at him while she was professing her life problems to him. Because of that, the doctor had replaced all the heavy trinkets on his desk with soft, light ones that would incur less damage to his head.

"No. I really don't. I need to go. Now," Natsu said firmly, staring the doctor right in the eyes.

The psychiatrist opened his mouth to say something when a rather loud scream from right outside his office ruptured their serious conversation.

"What was that?" the salmon-haired boy asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Mr. Dragneel had progressed quite a bit. A few months ago, he would have paled and fainted right on the spot from hearing an ear-piercing shriek such as that.

"I don't know, but I have a dreadful feeling that I know who it is…" the doctor muttered under his breath. He got up, and opened his door. He was correct.

Karen was standing and trying to assault a young man with light golden brown hair, who was confined to a wheelchair because of his seemingly broken legs, broken right arm, and fractured left wrist. "You!" the green-haired woman said hysterically. "How dare you kick me out of your apartment!? How dare you?! How dare you?! I helped pay for that stupid place with you! How could you kick me out?!"

A blonde nurse with a large chest was trying to fend her off with a couple other colleagues.

"Please, ma'am!" the blonde girl was saying in a loud voice. "Please! Knock it off! You're going to hurt Mr. Lates!"

"Hibiki, you get your ass over here so I can tear you limb by limb!"

"You cheated on me you bitch! No way am I ever going to let you move back in! You and that orange-haired bastard should never enter my line of sight again! You and that Loke Celeste will stay out of my way if you know what's good for you!"

Dr. Song watched as a flicker of recognition and realization crossed the blonde's face as she heard the name 'Loke Celeste', but he thought nothing of it. He only had to stop this raucous now.

"Please, Karen-!"

Before he could say much more, the greenette howled, and yelled, "Get out of my way you blonde bitch!"

She pushed the golden-haired woman to the floor, where she crashed into a potted plant. The ceramic container broke and the tree fell right beside the nurse, who yelped in fear as the plant narrowly miser her by inches. (A/N: It's one of those 'office trees' you usually see when you enter a dentist's or doctor's office. They're about medium size, not very big.)

"Now that-!" Dr. Song tried to roar again, but he was interrupted.

"Luce!" Natsu shouted. Fear engulfed him as he had watched his friend topple over and ram right into the tree. He raced over to the blonde, and grabbed onto her shoulders. The whole room had gone silent the moment Lucy had fallen, so that the green-headed crazy woman was finally quiet – though racked by heavy breaths – and the other nurses had gone into complete shock. "Luce! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Where does it hurt?! Do you want me to carry you?!"

"Nat-!"

"Crap! Have you broken something? Do you want me to get you a cast?!"

"Na-!"

"What do I do?! Do you want me to get something to carry you in?! A shopping cart maybe?!"

"Natsu!"

"What?!"

"I'm okay!" Lucy said, smiling faintly. "Geez…who knew you could be so fuss-?!"

The blonde's voice immediately cut off as the boy practically threw his arms around her, and pulled her into a tight hug. Lucy blinked rapidly…what was going on? Her own arms were clamped tightly at her sides because of the embrace Natsu had abruptly swept her up into.

They stayed like that or a few minutes before the other nurses sighed, and started to sit Karen back down and wheel Hibiki Lates to someplace else. Lucy watched them in uncertainty. Natsu WAS a patient after all, and he seemed to be calming down by hugging her. But really…shouldn't she be going back to her job's duties?

"Natsu…I think you should let go, now," the girl said gently.

He listened and pulled back. His head was hanging down, so that she couldn't see his expression.

In truth, Natsu's face was hot and probably red, which was why he couldn't bring himself to look up at the person before him. He had let himself get out of control. He had given in to his desire to never let Luce go.

"I…if you were hurt…I don't know what I would have done…Luce," he said quietly. And with that, he quickly added," I think I should be going now!"

"Okay, then," Lucy said, standing up. She faced Dr. Song. "I'll have this cleaned up right away sir."

"No need," the psychiatrist said. Oddly enough, he had a smug expression on his face. "I'll get to it later."

"But-!"

"Orders are orders, young lady."

"Um…all right then, sir."

Lucy turned to help Natsu up, but the boy was already gone.

She crossed her arms across her chest, and frowned. What was wrong with him? Why had he hugged her? Her face became hot as she thought of it. Oh, well. It wasn't as if she'd disliked it. Lucy shook her head at herself. She really was an idiot in love.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the blonde, there was another idiot in love as well. Later that night, Natsu called his friends over to his house – minus Lucy.

Erza sat on the sofa with Jellal, fussing over his messy, tangled up hair. Juvia and Gray were sitting on the floor in front of the television, which was playing a sappy love soap opera that Juvia was in love with, but Gray hated. He only watched it so that he could spend time with her.

Natsu had gone to take a shower, and when he emerged half-naked with a towel wrapped around his waist, Juvia squealed and covered her eyes as Erza's right eye twitched in annoyance.

"Natsu!"

He blinked in confusion, and looked down at himself. "What? What?"

"Put on some clothes."

"Aw, come on, Erza. You and I and Gray took baths together all the time when we were little kids."

"When we WERE LITTLE KIDS!" the redhead screeched. "Key part of the sentence!"

"Put on some clothes, Natsu," Jellal said calmly as a smirk spread across his face. "Or do you want to stay like that if Lucy just so happens to come over?"

The salmon-haired man's face brightened a vibrant red, and he whirled around, muttering, "Fine. Fine. You bastards. All of you."

When he had rammed a plain faded green shirt over himself, plaid boxers, and baggy, black basketball shorts, he sauntered into the room, and sat down in the armchair. He faced all of his friends, and stared at them with a serious look plastered on his face.

"So? What's the occasion? And why didn't you call Luce over?" Gray asked, leaning back on a part of the sofa Erza and Jellal were seated on. Juvia took the justice to lean into Gray instead, and just as everyone else was doing, looked at Natsu with a curious, but slightly smug gaze.

"You call her Lucy! I call her Luce!" Natsu snapped, folding his arms across his chest. "If I've told you once…then the next time I tell you again, I'll break your nose."

"Mmmhmm," Gray said carelessly, still looking at him.

"Okay, all right…this may come as a shock to all of you, but…today, with the help of Dr. Song…I've realized that I'm in love with...Lucy."

"Oh! What?! But Natsu! I never-!" Jellal said in an obviously fake surprised voice.

"Natsu, what?! But you said you WEREN'T! Oh my Mavis! I never would have thought-!" Juvia added in dramatically.

"What is this?! What is this?! Natsu…and Lucy?! I never would have guessed!" Erza shouted, clutching her head.

"No, really?" Gray said finally, crossing his arms as he received incredulous looks for his lack of acting and dramatization.

"You mean…you guys…knew?"

"Of course we knew, you dumbass!" Erza snapped. "It was so obvious! You were the only one that was excluded out on your apparent feelings for the girl!"

"How did you finally notice?" asked Jellal, covering his girlfriend's mouth with ease.

Natsu explained his conversation about Lisanna and Lucy with Dr. Song and then concluded with the outcome of the end of their discussion. "I visited Lisanna's grave afterwards…to tell her about it."

Everyone grew silent. Lisanna's burial was officially in the cemetery where veterans were buried (A/N: Since it's Japan, I have no idea where the war heroes are given their final resting place…so sorry for the lack of specifics…), but Natsu had stubbornly insisted that no, Lisanna's grave wasn't there…

They had carved a headstone and placed it near the riverbank where Natsu and Lisanna had first kissed after receiving the city's consent to do so.

"That's good, Natsu…you've grown, progressed…matured," Juvia said quietly. Everyone looked at her in surprise. It was rare that the girl ever spoke to Natsu about something heartfelt; they had never been the closest in their group of childhood friends.

"Now all you have to do is confess…but before you do that, maybe take her out for some coffee," Jellal suggested.

"Go with her on a walk down a flower-strewn path in the park," Erza added dreamily.

"Hold her hand as you cross a calm, bubbling river by stepping on smooth stones," Juvia sighed, holding her right cheek in her right hand, and swooning over the imagery she had just described.

"Give her ice cream," Gray finished. Again, he was given several stares of disbelief at his lack of imagination and romantic fantasies.

"That's a big leap, even the one with ice cream," Natsu said. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I kind of hugged her today when she was pushed down to the ground by this patient."

"I heard about that. Karen Lilica and Hibiki Lates. Such a tragic love story," Erza lamented.

"You hugged her?!" Juvia said in excitement. "And-?!"

"I…hugged her for the longest time…and I didn't let go until she told me to. I didn't even realize I was embracing her for a few long minutes until she spoke to me. It was…" he gulped, and his cheeks became red. Everyone marveled at how different…and almost…_cute_…he looked blushing when thinking about the blonde. "…embarrassing…but the thing is…I would do it again if I could. It was nice hugging her. And she _smells_ nice. And her skin is super soft. And her hair is like silk brushing up against your cheek, and…and…"

"All right, you pervert," Gray said. "We get it. We get the picture."

"What was that, you-?!"

"Natsu! Gray!" Erza snapped.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"And then what else, Natsu?"

"And then…and then while I was hugging her…" Natsu became so red that he looked down. He propped up his elbows on his lap and held his face in his hands. "I wanted to kiss her _so badly."_

Juvia and Erza became red at this as Gray and Jellal smirked.

"N-Natsu, if you move too fast, what if she comes to dislike you?" Juvia asked.

"Dislike…me?"

The aura around Natsu became so gloomy and dark that Erza racked through her mind to find something to help his sudden depression. On his face was a look of total distraught as his eyes doubled in size and became teary. He looked like a comically upset anime character.

"Look, Natsu…Lucy won't hate you! You guys are too close! And besides, how do you know she doesn't like you too?"

Natsu covered his mouth with his right hand as his cheeks glowed vibrant various hues of red. "That would be…nice."

"So next week, when she comes over to your house…you just got to try your best right? And make her fall in love with you!"

Natsu nodded and then paused. "Lucy's coming over to my house…"

It hadn't been such a big deal before…but now, the thought of being alone – A – L – O – N- E – with Luce was…was…

She was incredibly cute.

And from what he had experienced this afternoon, if anything she did triggered his emotions, he'd get a strong urge to kiss her or something.

Who'd be there to stop him?

His whole face became pale…and red at the same time. Who knew that would be possible?

"How am I going to make it through next week?"

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**What'd you guys think? Was Natsu cute in this chapter? Thanks for reading!**

**Please review!**

**Until Next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13: A Happy Day

**It's been quite some time since I've updated this story, yeah? Well, anyways, I'm glad that I've finally updated. This chapter is a bit short...I also really want to have a nice long break so that I can have enough time to update all my other stories...but that's not happening any time soon...**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Fairy Tail. **

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**Chapter Thirteen: A Happy Day**

Today was the day…Monday. Lucy was coming. He had gone through at least three days of being taken care of by Sue to reach this moment. Natsu sucked in his breath as he clutched onto the arms of his sofa and heard the front door open and shut. Footsteps resounded the hallway, and the salmon-haired man braced himself as they entered the living room. He jumped up and said loudly, "Good morning Lu…cy?"

In front of him wasn't the blonde but a smirking black-haired guy dressed in a polo shirt and cargo pants.

"Oh, it's only Gray Fullbuster, the idiot," Natsu grumbled and sank back down into his armchair.

Gray's right eyebrow cocked down in irritation and he leaned over the back of the chair to peer at his friend. "You wanna say that again!?"

"She's late," Natsu whined leaning back and ignoring the other man completely. "She's late!"

"Who's late?" a voice sounded from behind the two males. Gray jumped a foot in the air and tripped over the carpeted living room floor, where he landed in a crumpled heap. Natsu looked down at his friend in amusement and then lifted his head so that his gaze fell on Luce's curiosity-filled face instead. From the second he looked into her eyes, Natsu's whole face glowed red, and he fell out of his armchair with a clumsy move.

On the ground, he clapped a hand to his forehead, and groaned. That hadn't exactly been how he had planned to confront Lucy today.

"Natsu! Are you okay?!" the blonde said in concern, bending down to peer into her best friend's face. The war veteran glanced up at her sheepishly from his prone position on the floor and smiled widely. His cheeks were faintly tinted red, but his tan hid it from view completely.

"Yeah."

"Oh, yeah, I'm all right, too, you know…not that anybody cares, but I thought I could just get it out there, you know?" Gray said grumpily as he stood up from the ground and brushed himself off.

"Sorry," Lucy said, chuckling slightly. "It's just that your fall looked a whole lot less stupider than Natsu's, so I thought you'd be okay."

"That's harsh," the salmon-haired man said, sitting up and climbing onto the couch again. The blonde shot him a bright smile, which he returned with gusto.

His eyes trailed over the nurse observantly. Today she was wearing a casual baggy jacket, with slim khaki pants that flared out at the bottom. On her feet were the house slippers she had bought for Natsu a few weeks ago so that his house remained clean and unblemished. Her blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail, and the hairstyle brought out her face and brown, bright eyes more than usual. Her cheeks were flushed for some reason, as if she had spent a great deal of the morning chasing after something. That was when Natsu noticed the bulge in the bag Luce was carrying with both hands. His eyes widened as it moved and surged.

"What the hell is in that bag?!" Natsu shouted, pointing at the said purse in horror. "It's not some kind of new thing the hospital is giving nurses for medical treatment is it?!"

Lucy looked at her patient in confusion and her eyes lit up as she realized what it was he was going on about. She laughed. "No, no, no. I just ran into this little fella on my way here in the morning. He's super cute, wanna see him?"

"And what is exactly is this hi-?"

Before Natsu could finish his question, Luce opened the purse up and a little blue ball shot out of the bag and rammed into Natsu's stomach. "Oof!"

The impact of the little creature sent Natsu sliding off the couch again and onto the floor. He opened his eyes in alarm as he felt something rough and ticklish brush repetitively against his cheek.

"Oh, how adorable!" Luce gushed as Natsu turned over and picked up the little, blue cat that had attacked him playfully. He held the animal up above him as it gazed at him with large, meaningful eyes and mewed in happiness.

"It can't be!" Natsu said in astonishment as he sat up and placed the animal into his lap. It curled up and purred rhythmically as it snuggled into Natsu's abdomen. When that didn't prove to be warm enough, it poked its head under the boy's warm sweater, and climbed in, where it lay down and began to snore.

"You don't think that it's the same, do you?" Gray asked, crouching down next to Natsu.

"How many blue cats do you ever see in a lifetime?"

"Just one. And I think this is the _same _one."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lucy asked, tilting her head to the right.

Natsu blinked rapidly as he pulled the cat out from under his sweater; it mewed in protest, and struggled around, but didn't try to scratch the hand of its holder.

"When Lisanna and I were little, we both found a kitten that was blue in the park. He was a stray, and we took care of him for a while. Lisanna was the 'mother' and I was the 'father', you could say. We named him Happy, but he disappeared after a few weeks of us taking care of him. We never knew where he had went," Natsu said as he set the cat on the ground. It flipped over onto its back and purred as Natsu rubbed its belly. "I'm sure this is him. He even has the mark."

"Mark?"

"This one," Natsu said, turned Happy over so that his back was shown. Natsu combed through the animal's fur and found the white mark. It was in the shape of a fairy and bird-like creature, and the edges of the mark were perfect. "It looks just like Fairy Tail Hospital's emblem, doesn't it?"

The salmon-haired boy looked up to smile at Lucy, but she had bent down to rub Happy's head. The cat shut its eyes tightly for a minute, before it decided that it loved the touch of Lucy's hand. It meowed cheerfully, and wandered to the blonde's side, where it climbed up onto her lap and snuggled its head into her chest. Natsu glanced enviously at the feline for a moment before he stretched out his legs.

"So…Happy is basically your and Lisanna's pet, right?" Lucy asked, looking up at grinning at her friend gently.

Natsu blushed, and ducked his head down as he ran his hand though his hair. "Yeah…but…he can also be our pet…"

"That'd be nice," Lucy answered. Natsu looked up at her in alarm, and pouted when he saw that she was looking down at Happy. Maybe she hadn't met anything romantic when she had said that. "I have a little Welsh Corgi at home named Plue. He loves to get along with cats. Maybe I could bring him over sometime?"

Natsu looked up at the blonde, who was smiling at him widely. That was the first time that it donned on him that he had never seen Lucy's home before. He didn't even know where she lived for that matter. He let his fingers roam absentmindedly across the cat's fur and ducked his head down, frowning from his sudden realization. "Sure…"

"So, it's a play date," Lucy said enthusiastically, and got up with vigor. "I'll make you some breakfast, okay?"

She left the living room abruptly, and Natsu leaned back against the bottom of the couch in exhaustion. Happy trundled onto his lap, shifted his paws wearily, and curled up into a furry, tight ball to take his nap. He began to purr as Natsu scratched his ears softly. "A date…" the man said under his breath dazedly.

"A _play _date," Gray corrected, finally speaking up after the awkward conversation between his two friends. "As in, a meeting for your two pets…nothing romantic."

Natsu shot the man a glare. "Whatever, stupid."

"Shut up, dumbass."

"Can it, asshole."

"Make me, ass face."

"Grow up, stupid head."

"You first, poop face."

"I advise you both to shut up before I have enough of your kindergarten-rate insults," Lucy said as she entered the living room with a plate of steaming waffles. Natsu accepted the food gratefully and dug in, smirking as Gray watched him enviously.

"It's about time I head to school," the black-haired boy said, twirling his car keys on his right index finger. "See you later?"

"Bye, Gray," Luce called as she went back into the kitchen. "Say hi to Juvia for me, okay?"

"All right."

The door shut with a loud slam as he left, and the two people left in the household heard his car engine as it started up and drove away. Lucy sighed as she came into the room, and started to tidy up the living room a bit. She picked up an empty water bottle by the television and set it on the low table in front of the couch; she intended to recycle it later. The blonde smoothed out the couch's pillows as Natsu asked with concern in his voice, "What's wrong, Luce?"

She smiled gently at Natsu's nickname for her, and tried to ignore the fast beatings of her heart for moment as she sat down in the armchair he usually sat in. She set her chin on her propped up hands and said carefully, "I wish I could meet my destined person just like Juvia has. I'm already twenty-four, and I haven't had a boyfriend yet…"

"Really?"

"Yeah, medical school took up a lot of my time, and before that, I was always too focused on my studies to make much time for relationships…"

"Have you ever…_liked…_anyone?"

Lucy gave Natsu a quick glance and let a smile grace her lips. "No…but I have loved someone. I still love him."

She gave a sly look towards the salmon-haired man, but he didn't seem notice. He had taken a sudden interest in Happy's ears. "I talk to him almost everyday."

"That's nice," Natsu said in a detached sort of way. He didn't seem to be really listening.

"And I'd wish he'd notice me as more than a friend…" the blonde continued, staring at the top of Natsu's head.

"Mmhmm."

"And I'd wish he'd stop being so dense every time. So that we could…be something more…maybe…"

"It'll probably happen, Luce. Because you're so beautiful."

"What?"

"And smart."

"Natsu?"

"And cute."

"What are you-?"

"And funny."

There was a long silence that stretched between them. "Natsu…do you…"

The blonde stopped talking as fear overtook her. "Natsu, do you…?"

At that moment, Happy jumped out of Natsu's lap and sat before Lucy, his big eyes unblinking. He meowed cutely.

Natsu and Lucy both reached out their hands at the same time to pet the blue feline. Their hands overlapped each other. An electric shock traveled up the blonde's arm as Natsu's warm palm covered her own. Happy slipped away, a comical grin on his face as if we were making fun of them. The cat walked a few feet before sitting down and watching the scene unfold.

"Oh, sor-!" Lucy started, trying to rip her hand from under Natsu's. But the boy curled up fingers and laced them with hers smoothly. For a moment, he said nothing as Lucy blushed and stared at the side view of his face.

Finally, his gaze met hers, and he tilted his head to one side. "Who do you love Lucy? Because I swear I will do whatever it takes to find that guy and find out what he has that I don't. I want you to fall for me so badly. Please. Lucy, fall in love with me. Because I love you."

The blonde's jaw went slack as her eyes widened and she slipped off the couch and onto the ground.

"You…don't have to anywhere to find him," she said, her throat constricting. "Because the idiot I fell for is right in front of me. It's you, you stupid dumbass. I fell in love with you, Natsu Dragneel."

* * *

**Another cliffhanger! *laughs evilly* Nah, just kidding. Truthfully, I didn't plan to have Natsu confess so early. It feels...too early...you know? But I think that this story might be ending soon, because all of our character's problems have been solved. I don't want to drag it out too much...and I feel like that's what I would be doing if I didn't have something happen between Natsu and Lucy in this chapter...**

**Hope you liked it though! Have fun trying to guess what happens next?... :D Thanks for reading!**

**Please review!**

**Until next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14: No Matter What Part 1

**Okay, so...maybe I should start off with an apology. I know this took a really long time, and this chapter...is okay, or so-so...I think. Guess why? Because Writer's Block has come! That's right guys, the feared enemy of writers has committed its crime yet again (what am I saying?)! That's why this chapter is short. But dramatic! But short! But-! You get the point.**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Fairy Tail!**

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**Chapter 14: No Matter What (Part 1) **

"What did you say?" Natsu asked as held on tightly to Lucy's hand and stared into her face incredulously. The blonde rubbed at her eyes as tears squeezed out from under her closed eyelids. She hiccupped as a scowl graced her features.

"I said that I love you, dumbass! Are your ears full of shi-?"

And then Natsu closed the small space that was between them. Lucy's eyes snapped wide open as Natsu's warm, hot lips pressed onto her hers, and kissed her hungrily, as if he had been awaiting for this moment for hundreds of years. Slowly, his lips became gentler as he got used to her soft mouth, and then they were just sitting on the ground, their lips pursed softly against each other's. Natsu heaved a sigh, and his hot breath raced down the blonde's neck. The smell of vanilla and cherry blossoms filled his nostrils wondrously and he smiled against her mouth.

He moved away from the kiss, and clasped Lucy's head to his chest. Natsu dug his chin into the curve of her neck and dug his face into her hair. The silky strands of her locks tickled his cheeks as he did so, and he flushed as he felt her own arms wrapped around his waist.

Lucy blinked back her tears as she whispered, "Natsu…it's not a dream, right?"

"Luce."

"I'm not dreaming again, am I?"

"Luce."

"Yeah?"

"You're not dreaming," Natsu said, pulling back so that he could directly look into her eyes. "I love you. I really do."

"Stupid," the blonde said, blushing furiously, but still having enough guts and spunk to tease him. "Did you really not notice my feelings this whole time?"

"Nope."

"Geez, Natsu. You're so dense. Idiotically dense. Super dense. Like a big, dumbass idiot. What do you have for a brain?"

"There's a limit to how much you can tease me," Natsu said, turning away and pouting. He turned back a little bit, and smiled. He tilted her chin up, and leaned in to once again-

"Whoops! Forgot my bag you guys! Sorry about that! I swear I was halfway to my coll- what're you guys doing?!" Gray's voice thundered in the living room as Lucy and Natsu quickly ripped away from each other. There went that could-have-been second kiss, Natsu groaned inwardly. He glared at the black-haired boy towering over them, his mouth hanging open. "Are you guys making out?!"

"Not anymore we're not," Natsu said moodily.

"Natsu!" Lucy said, punching him on the shoulder as her whole face transitioned from one shade of red to another. "We weren't making out. We weren't doing anything."

"Except kissing," Natsu corrected in a matter-of-fact tone. That got him another punch in the arm.

Gray looked at them with wide eyes, and let his gaze roam from friend to friend. After a few seconds, a mischievous grin spread across his face, and in an anticipating tone, he said, "Wait until Juvia hears! Wait till Jellal hears!"

And then, a flicker of realization crossed his face, and he laughed manically. "Wait until _Erza _hears!"

Natsu's face paled as Lucy's expression twisted in horror.

The black-haired male practically _skipped_ into the room, swinging his bag onto his shoulder as he cast a huge smile at them. "You guys _are_ a couple now, right?"

"I-" Natsu's voice caught in his throat, and his right hand twisted into the fabric of his shirt. It was certain that Luce had confessed her feelings for him, and he her, but…were they ready for a relationship? His throat felt dry and scratchy as silence descended upon them. There was an itchy feeling in his heart, and he knew right then and there he wanted more than anything to take the position of Luce's boyfriend, and for her to be by his side as something more than just a normal friend. However, did she feel the same way? "Well…"

"Yeah…we are," Lucy said firmly, startling both males in the room. Gray's mouth fell open a second time, and a lopsided smile took the place of it a moment later.

He wrung his hands evilly, and thought of all the possibilities in store. "Erza'll buy cake to celebrate, Jellal will be spouting jokes about you guys, and Juvia will be…"

He blinked, and shrugged. "Juvia will be Juvia."

Gray shook his fist. "It's a win for Gray Fullbuster!"

"Last time I checked, it wasn't _you _who was establishing a new relationship," Natsu snorted in annoyance. Gray patted this friend's head.

"I will let that comment slide because the assurance of you guys getting together means a celebration, a celebration means food, and food means dessert, and dessert most likely means cake."

Natsu opened his mouth to protest, but Gray had already cantered out the door singing at the top of his lungs. The blonde and salmon-haired man were left alone in the living room. Lucy cleared her throat awkwardly as she got up, saying in a hesitant voice," I guess I'll go…clean up…or something."

She started to walk away, but paused. "Natsu…it's okay…right?"

Natsu let a ghost of a smile creep up to his face. "Yeah. More than okay, Luce."

He could only see the side of her face, but that was enough to allow him to witness her bright smile. His heart swelled, and before he could think and prevent the urge, he pulled at her wrist, and brought her into a deep kiss. A blush was lightly dusted across Lucy's face as she stood up, brushed off her pants, and nearly tripped over Happy – the cat who had been suspiciously still throughout the whole performance.

For now, Natsu only stroked the feline's head as he brought his hand over his mouth. It was tingling faintly, and he thought he could trace the faint aroma of vanilla and sakura petals rolling off from his lips. His neck and face flared a million shades of pink and red as he propped up his elbows onto his knees, and held his head in his hands.

A small smile curved his mouth, and for the first time in days, allowed himself to relax as he thought about his beloved blonde.

Little did he know that that would be the last bit of relaxation he would get for months.

Later that night, the news was on every channel.

_"We're very sorry to interrupt your programs ladies and gentlemen, but there has been an accident on Main Street tonight in the business section of the city. A small vehicle has reportedly crashed into a young woman who was on her way home. The victim is a young lady of twenty four, by the name of Lucy Heartfilia. Witnesses say that-"_

And Natsu grabbed his car keys and ran out of the house.

* * *

**Cue the *dun, dun, duuuns!*, rainstorms, dramatic, sad music, and someone playing the piano! Cue the tissues and tears and snot-filled noses! I swear this is the weirdest author's note I've ever written...but anyways, I'm sorry it's so short, and if it was a so-so chapter, but I promise I'll give a better chapter next time...whenever that is. **

**I've also considered being a beta, but...I don't know...I already have my hands full with updating stories, but...it seems fun, you know? **

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Please Review!**

**Until next chapter!**


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